Carole Reports from the Front Line

Once upon a time, on a blustery autumn day, 4 intrepid warriors of the Greener tribe set out to save the environment . There was M, an experienced fighter, calm and undaunted in the face of adversity; W, enthusiastic, committed and brave; J, engaging, energetic and prepared, and finally C, driven by a mixture of outrage and zealous determination. But smiling with it.

Well, that’s what it felt like. You had to be there.

What really happened: We gave out leaflets and asked shoppers to sign our petition. We visited a parade of shops and asked them to sign a pledge to promote the use of reusable bags, keep plastic bags out of sight and ask customers if they needed a bag before providing one.

Here are some of their responses:

Pet Food Supplies
Absolutely! we don’t give out plastic bags, we use reusable and already ask customers to bring in their own (served customer and took an old Tesco bag from under the counter for her).

Fishmonger
sadly, surrounded by plastic, but nevertheless passionate that the environment should be looked after, he would do what he could, and it was a disgrace the way our fish stocks had been managed. “Our customers bring their own bags.”

Butcher
Certainly, did agree that plastic bags should be paid for. Among other things, would reduce the rubbish littering the parade

Upmarket Wine Merchant
Happy to sign. Did not give out any plastic bags, reused their boxes

Convenience Store
Signed to do his best, but felt under pressure to provide bags, as they were available free up the road from Asda.

Delicatessen
Our star. Wrapped his food products in waxed paper, was prepared to fill customers’ own containers, asked them to bring their own bags and had a little rant about the litter and this is not allowed in South Africa, where he is from. (also, by the way, not allowed in Australia, Ireland, China, Bangladesh ….. )

Oriental Foods
Manager not in, but deputy promised to hand form over for signature. In less than perfect English, he engaged in informed discussion, wished us well and said he fully supported our campaign. Smiling nods from other staff.

We visited 13 shops.
We took away 10 signed pledges, with one possible to follow.
Almost without exception, passersby accepted the leaflets and most were prepared to sign the petition.
We collected 79 signatures in support and we were only out an hour.

If I were a politician and I got this sort of feedback on an issue, I would think this was a mandate.