Shopping at a local vegetable vendor I got talking to a fellow shopper - he was buying delicious looking mangoes at the end of the day.

As I watched his mangoes being packed and weighed in a plastic bag, I gently asked him when he thought we might be rid of this single use plastic bag in our country. He was not offended and without being defensive he entered into a discussion.

“I shop here often and today is the one day I have not brought a bag - sometimes I have even borrowed crates from here to take groceries back home because I did not have sufficient bags. Yes, I also think this plastic bag is a real challenge, I think the government really should become strict and stop this production altogether.”

We chatted more about the need to change our behaviour and before he loaded the bags into his car, he pointed out the knot on the bag of mangoes...

“See I keep telling them they should not tie the handles into a knot - its so hard to untie and we end up ripping the bag open and therefore have to throw it out, it  could be reused much more it they don’t do this!"

Such a small detail - and yet it hastens the bag's journey to a ditch. Little things matter too.

Poonam Bir Kasturi

1st July 2021