East West Market – Vancouver, Canada-based natural grocer – is offering plastic bags for a 5 cent fee with slogans advertising fake stores where most people would not want to be caught shopping. They have taken on this humorous approach to get customers to think twice about taking a plastic bag. Has it worked? Yes, and no. It has gotten people talking about the issue, but the bags have also become a popular collector’s item rather than a shameful “slap on the hand” walk home.
As countries and cities around the globe start banning single-use plastic bags, other places are making them a more inconvenient or costly option first. The reality is, people are so used to expecting a bag to be part of their purchase that they forget to bring their own. For those situations, stores are weaning people off the plastic bag dependency by having them available for a fee. However, this is also not working out well because some folks are not forgetting to bring a bag, they are just not bothering to bring one because they know they can just pay a few cents extra and not have to carry around reusable bags with them just in case they need to buy something. Many people are willing to pay for convenience rather than save a few cents, and the planet. (That is why an outright ban is most effective.)
East West Market has taken all this into consideration and come up with a new idea. In addition to the fee, they printed bags that read: “Into the Weird Adult Video Emporium,” “Dr. Toews’ Wart Ointment Wholesale,” and “The Colon Care Co-op.” In smaller print on each bag, a line reads: “Avoid the shame. Bring a reusable bag.” The intention was to have those shoppers that forgot (or didn’t bother to bring a bag) walking around the streets of Vancouver with everyone thinking they have a lot of warts, colon issues, or a liking for strange videos. Not that there’s anything wrong with those things, just that most people probably wouldn’t choose to brag about those facts with branded shopping bags.
East West Market shared a video on their Facebook page explaining why the team created the bags. The video says:
Over 1 million plastic bags are used every minute, most of which are filled once then discarded. So, we redesigned our plastic bags to stop people from taking them. Helping our customers remember a reusable bag and think twice about single-use plastic.
East West Market owner David Lee Kwen told The Guardian about his unique approach to attacking plastic pollution. “We wanted to give them something humorous, but also something that made them think at the same time.” He added that the bags were not meant to be embarrassing. “It’s human nature not to want to be told what to do.”
Kwen also told Canadian news outlet Global News that he is an advocate for Canada’s upcoming single-use plastic ban. Once these bags run out, he will not be printing any more. However, he might print the logos onto reusable bags, for the collectors out there.
All in all, a point was made, and people are talking about it. That is what is most important at the moment, as the climate crisis deepens. The world needs people to know the stark reality of our situation. It needs people who care about the environment. Refusing plastic bags is only a piece of a very large puzzle. To push things along at a faster pace, you can write to your local leaders about creating laws banning single-use plastic in your community; and you can ask your local grocery store to take inspiration from East West Market and come up with their own clever plan to phase out plastic bags!
