A plastic planet?

Municipal corporations across the country are trying to trim the use of plastic. Okay, that is the policy decision on paper. What about implementation? How are the governments planning to stem this swelling of plastic waste crowding our water resources and clogging drains and pipes. Small shop owners or big time malls, they all subtly and sometimes blatantly push plastic.
I recently bought a wall clock, and after paying the bill was just about to put the clock in my cloth bag that the shopowner produced a glossy and colourful plastic bag to hold the clock. When I refused, he insisted that I take it and “recycle” it. “Please do take it madam. It will be useful,” he said, pushing the plastic bag in my reluctant hand. The clock company’s name was artistically embossed on the bag. Saying a firm “no”, I put the clock in my bag, leaving the shopkeeper with a sheepish grin on his face.
Urban living springs a “shopping experience” in malls and supermarkets. And, most of these malls insist on packing goods in their plastic bags because of the free advertising they get once the customer flaunts the bags out on the streets. This, coupled with the round-the-year festival sales and exhibitions lead to more plastic-flaunting. Thanks to this culture, we have been continuously sheathing our precious planet with multiple layers of plastics.
But there are ways we can at least decelerate this dumping of plastic by carrying our bags. Again, these big stores make the use of plastic a convenient option.
The baggage counter in these malls are at the entrance, while the cash counters are all tucked deep inside, making the logistics of transferring the goods from the shopping cart to your own eco-friendly bag very tough. Only the very tough and eco-conscious shoppers will be able to resist the plastic largesse doled out by these malls. If the baggage counters are kept closer to the cash counters, it would add to the convenience of the eco-friendly shoppers.
Big Bazaar, a supermarket chain, sends across the most eco-unfriendly message. First, it has a baggage counter outside the store. Then it insists on weighing vegetables in its plastic pouches. After billing, the goods are all put in those unpleasant plastic bags and locked with a plastic seal, making it difficult to resort to any eco-friendly shopping experience. So I carry a huge cloth bag with a pair of scissors in it. I deposit the bag in the counter outside. After paying the bills, I cut open the locks tied around the plastic bags, transfer all the goods in my bag and request the security near the exit gate to hand them over to the counter. Passersby might have found me crazy going through this process. But at least I do not leave that place feeling guilty of choking the planet.
Is there a way to get out of this mindset of hogging more plastic bags? Can we resort to our good old paper bags. Earlier, when Kolkata was Calcutta, and probably everywhere else, shops packed food grains or groceries in newspaper covers, called tongas. And vegetable shoppers always carried cloth or jute bags. Can we please have the good old tongas back please?