Antone's Nightclub
Remember Your Bags
RECEIVED Tue., May 4, 2021
Dear Editor,
Please remember to bring your reusable shopping bags! I know it can be easy to forget them or think that it does not make much of a difference, but it truly does. Plastic bags are used for an average of 12 minutes and will last for hundreds of years. We know this because the first plastic products produced are still sitting on our earth. These plastic bags will end up on beaches like Corpus Christi and in the Gulf of Mexico. Once the plastic is in the water, it will break down into smaller plastics that are ingested by marine life. This is harmful to them and subsequently the people who consume seafood that contains microplastics. By 2025, experts predict that there will be one pound of plastic in the ocean for every three pounds of fish.
I work as a cashier for H-E-B and I have seen some customers that do not bring reusable bags dislike that the store will charge 25 cents per bag. Believe it or not, explaining to an upset customer why H-E-B does not give away bags is harder than pushing carts in the middle of a summer day. H-E-B has enforced this policy for many years even after the Single-Use Carryout Bag Ordinance was repealed in 2018 for the city of Austin. I think H-E-B is doing a good thing because in 2019 they reduced plastic bag use by 308 million bags, roughly 1.9 million pounds of plastic. Image what could happen if shoppers encouraged other stores to do the same. What I want to do is draw attention to the positive effects this policy has. When you bring a reusable bag it makes a significant difference for the environment and it makes my job more enjoyable.
Please remember to bring your reusable shopping bags! I know it can be easy to forget them or think that it does not make much of a difference, but it truly does. Plastic bags are used for an average of 12 minutes and will last for hundreds of years. We know this because the first plastic products produced are still sitting on our earth. These plastic bags will end up on beaches like Corpus Christi and in the Gulf of Mexico. Once the plastic is in the water, it will break down into smaller plastics that are ingested by marine life. This is harmful to them and subsequently the people who consume seafood that contains microplastics. By 2025, experts predict that there will be one pound of plastic in the ocean for every three pounds of fish.
I work as a cashier for H-E-B and I have seen some customers that do not bring reusable bags dislike that the store will charge 25 cents per bag. Believe it or not, explaining to an upset customer why H-E-B does not give away bags is harder than pushing carts in the middle of a summer day. H-E-B has enforced this policy for many years even after the Single-Use Carryout Bag Ordinance was repealed in 2018 for the city of Austin. I think H-E-B is doing a good thing because in 2019 they reduced plastic bag use by 308 million bags, roughly 1.9 million pounds of plastic. Image what could happen if shoppers encouraged other stores to do the same. What I want to do is draw attention to the positive effects this policy has. When you bring a reusable bag it makes a significant difference for the environment and it makes my job more enjoyable.
Emily Heath