Libby Brooks
October 20, 2014
Scotland is one of the
countries that are starting to invest in sustainable behavior among shoppers.
They will try to do so by charging for carrier bags the price will be small and
symbolic but the environment officials hope to cut the usage of single use bags
considerably. The Scottish environment secretary Richard Lochhead says that the
main problem is the attitude of the consumers. “Our carrier bag addiction is symptomatic of our throwaway
culture and has serious implications for the environment.”
“Huge numbers of these bags end up as litter, blighting our communities
and clogging up our seas and natural habitats, affecting many sorts of wildlife
and marine species in particular.” When shops charge for bags it is part
of their profit but an organization called Zero Waste Scotland is encouraging
shops to give the money to environmental causes in Scotland. Many well known
shops have already agreed to do so. Patrick Harvie, of the Scottish Green party
says that the main problem are the companies producing disposable packaging.
His opinion is that consumers are not only ones to blame. Consumers need to change, companies need to change
but the politicians and the media also need to take this problem more
seriously.
In my opinion, this is a good initiative, because I think that most
people are not aware of the small things they do everyday. Maybe if they start
paying for something they considered free and unimportant, they will start
thinking about other things, too. But the responsibility is on the other end as
well. For example I think that people in Serbia are not environmentally
conscious and they don’t think about what they are doing to nature, but the
truth is that things such as recycling almost don’t exist and there is no encouragement
or penalties for certain kinds of behaviors that could affect the environment
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