One picture says it all...

15/5/2013

Plastic pollution, photo by Gaetano's workshop, in blogpost by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs

That sinking feeling. We've all experienced it. You are in the line at the check-out and look for your reusable shopping bags, but they are still in the car. Or worse, you left them at home. It's not so bad if your car is just outside the shop so can run and get them, but so often you just accept the plastic bag offered instead, gently cursing your memory.

So how do you remember to "Bring Your Own Bag"?

BYOB Bags by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs

What works for me is to put a set of bags together, with a couple of linen bags for the heavier goods and some knitted BYOB Bags for all the awkward shaped items. Then I can hang them up by the door ready to grab on my way out.

When I get back home, I can unpack, have a cup of tea and then pack up a new set of bags so they are ready for my next expedition!

BYOB - Bring Your Own Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs

But that still leaves the issue of remembering to take the bags out of the car, so here are some other ideas:

After you finish knitting your bags, take three strands of left-over yarn from the last bag you worked on and braid up a little loop to put onto your keychain. As you remove your keys from the ignition, the colourful braid will remind you to take your bags too.

As you claim your shopping trolley, place the shopping bags straight in. Now if you see you have a trolley that is empty when you start your shopping, you can immediately go back and retrieve them.
Write "Take Bags!!" at the top of your shopping list so that you will see this before heading out, and again as you begin looking for your items.

Another way is to make a knitted bag that becomes your principal bag that you always carry wherever you go. That will act as a memory jogger since this knitted bag will remind you to take your other ones too.

The bag in the photo is the Southampton Book Bag, one of a set of five fabric-lined bags in the Southampton Collection.

Alternatively, you could look at this photo from Gaetano's Workshop. He writes:

"Taken during a walk in the forest, this photo shows the lack of respect by certain individuals for Mother Nature. On this remnant of a partially decomposed plastic bag we can still divine the word 'Merci' (thank you)."

If nothing else acts to help remind you to take your bags to the shops, then perhaps the memory of this image will.

Thank you, Gaetano, for your permission to include this photo here. For more of his work, please visit his Flickr page. This image is in the set: "Nature et Paysages".

Happy Knitting!

Moira