Dan's Papers - October 31, 2008

Driving up Job's Lane a few weeks ago, I realized that I had a message on my cell phone. When I retrieved it, I found that Katherine from Hildreth's Department store on Main Street was calling to announce that I had won their drawing for a gift basket. Since I was in the area, I stopped in immediately to claim my prize. The drawing is part of the store's move to make consumers more aware of how a series of small, cumulative actions can create broader environmental benefits by asking us to decline a bag with our purchase, save paper, minimize garbage and expenses. It all adds up to less junk in the landfills.

Hank Hildreth credits his wife, Colleen, with the idea. She had read about the movement to ban the bag and wanted to see their family-owned department store do more with recycling and, more importantly, diminish the use of disposable packaging and paper products. The staff has given up on paper plates and plastic forks. They bring their own utensils from home to reduce the need for these types of products and the garbage generated by their casual and, let's face it, convenient use.

Everyone is enthusiastic about Hildreth's ban the bag drawing, which they will have every month. They had a wonderful response right from the start. Over 100 people opted out on a bag and carried their purchases out the door without them. In the past, Hildreth says this might have been prohibitive for people to do because they would not want to be perceived as shoplifters. But now that the store has provided some added incentive to think about how our consumer lifestyle has an impact on the environment, people's habits may change. Besides, if you know that you're going shopping, you can certainly bring your own bag.

Right after picking up my prize from Katherine, I saw a woman in Waldbaum's with large reusable bags to put her groceries in. Both of these small reminders made me realize that I have intended to pay more attention to the issue of plastic bags and non-recyclables, but my intentions have not been translated into any action on my part. The drawing at Hildreth's really brought the point home for me, in more ways than one. And once I got it home, I realized that the lovely plates and glasses that they had given me were packed in a beautiful green basket made by women in India from recycled plastic bags.

I remember the day I dropped my name in a glass bowl in the housewares section at Hildreth's. I had come back in to buy a few more towels. I was told by Sheri that if I declined a bag with my purchase I could register for the drawing and, as carrying my towels out over my arm with my register receipt in hand was simple enough, I dropped my name in the bowl. She also told me that she had recently returned to her native country of Ghana after having been away for almost 20 years. When she left they did not use plastic bags, but now, she said, they were everywhere, and often are seen as litter as much as they're used as a handy carrying device, like a plague of locusts that had settled. It's not the first time that plastic has been considered the scourge of less prosperous nations, but what about here?

The New York City Council has recently voted to require that all large stores and chain stores recycle their plastic. Another law may soon follow that bans plastic grocery bags from being used, similar to the law passed in San Francisco, where you have to bring your own bags, as plastic bags are no longer given out.

Cities across the world are employing this strategy to lower the amount of plastic entering landfills and littering up the landscape. In Nice last year, it was strictly a bring-your-own affair at the grocery store, which we discovered to our surprise. The first time it was awkward trying to carry everything we had bought out in our four hands, but the next time we went back prepared, thinking that this was a really good idea.

So what accounts for my inertia here? Why didn't we just start doing this here at home? Habit? (And a bad one at that.) There are many laws being formed all over the world that will soon help us all break the plastic bag habit, though. In Ireland you have to pay for a plastic bag at the grocery store. It costs 32 cents per bag and, as a result, there has been a dramatic drop in demand. Other countries are finding creative ways of dealing with this problem and with good reason.

An island two times the size of Texas is forming in the Pacific Ocean, according to an NPR report. The island is made of tofu containers, plastic bags, wrappers, etc. All the flotsam and jetsam carried in on the currents from Asia arrive in this ever-growing pile after a short six-month drift. It takes longer for non-biodegradable plastics to arrive from our shores, but the water quality and marine populations must be affected by this. If taking our groceries and other purchases home in our hands keeps that plastic island from expanding in the ocean, then I think I can overcome my inertia and make this simple, small change.

What the Hildreth family and their employees are hoping to do is create a ripple effect right here on Main Street in Southampton. Part of the plan is to promote responsibility and teach kids about how little daily decisions, such as doing an everyday activity like shopping, can have big consequences for the environment. Making changes can be overwhelming, but small actions aren't as uncomfortable as big ones. By rewarding people for thinking about these bigger global issues, Hildreth's has found a fun and positive way to get the point across about the need for change without being didactic or political.

Hildreth's also would like to see businesses in town begin to operate in the same vein, focusing on diminishing demand for excess plastics and paper, recycling everything that can be separated, while cutting back on expenses and capturing the public's imagination and attention with the concept of contributing to environmental solutions in small ways every day. It would be great to see a "Ban the Bag on Main Street" campaign here. And this is only the beginning for them at this century-old store on Main Street. Employees are encouraged to regularly come up with ideas on how to make a bigger impact and it will be exciting to see what else they come up with besides those cute, French market bags that they have for sale now that can make an attractive replacement for a plastic sack in this stylish town.