FREE shopping bags

On last Vesak Poya evening, my MIL wanted coconut oil to light lanterns, picked up a bottle and peddled to Rupasinghe stores near cool planet (I was once wondering from where the name has come from)

The friendly grocer, young Mr. Rupasinghe, a fellow Anandian enthusiastically serving me mentioned that I was one of the rare kind to the shop for coconut oil with a bottle! And almost all the ladies asked for oil in polythene bags!

We are in the blame game on the garbage menace but are we doing our part in resolving the problem? NO, we keep doing the wrong and blame the governments from independence for not taking action. 

Sticking to topic, from the day the Meethotamulla dump collapsed I took a stern decision to reject all free polythene bags, and I usually carry a backpack or my favorite messenger bag (I am a freak of) wherever I go, even to the supermarket and trust me I would have saved over 100 bags (big & small) within a month for sure. 

I recall my parents used to buy fresh Fish from the Panadura market or elsewhere and brought it home by bus with no polythene, and that was 40 years ago. Where are we moving ahead, as a Nation, as a Country?