Much as I hate plastic bags I have to admit there are times when they come in handy. Buying fish for instance. Fish is damp and odour some. Meat too is rather moist and slippery. Yet the idea of buying plastic wrapped meat does not appeal. There is of course the rubbish they create. No one is going to recycle my blood filled wrappers so they have to be disposed some how. Then there is the leaching of chemicals. Since I discovered plastic contains mobile chemicals I have not been keen on tightly wrapped food.I decided to see what the experts did about this problem. The experts in this case were Modbury and Hebdon Bridge. Both these towns have gone plastic free bag free. No bags are given away on purchase and smelly wet things are wrapped up in biodegradable bags. Like plastic, these bags are water proof but because they are made from vegetable products – in this case cornstarch – they are compostable. Compostable means they fully biodegrade – you can put them on the compost heap.I know because I spoke to the lovely Simon Wilkinson – the Modbury butcher. I told him of my goal be a plastic free me. Despite it being a strange introduction and that the shop sounded busy, he kindly explained to me that they had been using the greaseproof paper / biodegradable bag option since going plastic free. So I got myself some 6 litre biodegradable bags- the right size for a medium size chicken.Getting the bags is easy – try www.biobags.co.uk or The Bin Company at www.thebincompany.com call them on – 0845 602 3630. More difficult is going into the butchers with your own bags and asking that they use them. They usually will… but you get some very funny looks at first.
Console yourself with the thought – not only are they clean, green alternative to plastic, they are petroleum free. As oil hit’s a hundred dollars a barrel that’s an important point.
While we are on the subject why not sign the Huddersfield ban the plastic bag petition and remember, one good quality reusable bag saves a 1000 plastic carriers.
