Ryan Bridge: The issue with paper bags

I paid 40 cents for a paper bag while shopping at my local supermarket the other week. 

40 cents. 

Remember when they used to cost 10 cents? Back in the day when they swapped them out for plastic bags when they banned those – which used to be free. 

40 cents. 

And guess what they had printed on the side of this paper bag that you buy to put your groceries in.  

They had printed little Christmas trees for goodness sake. 

So you chop down trees, you make paper bags and then you print more trees on them – we're supposed to be saving the planet. 

This is stupid, it's dumb and it's 40 cents. 

It's a lot of money. 

It's a lot more than free, which is what we used to get the plastic bags for. 

And they're not reusable. You put a 2-litre milk in there, it's wet, it's soggy and it just falls straight through. 

It's not a reusable thing. 

People are probably over the paper bag thing and used to it by now. Take your own bags is the other thing, but I forgot, so what are you going to do? 

But here's the thing with costly environmental policies.  

This is stuff like your emissions trading scheme charged on the petrol that you put in your tank, or on farmers, or the ute tax, or the cycleway bills that we are paying for.  

The issue with all of this is getting us on board with paying to fix the planet when we're such a small part of it. 

Are we really saving all the dolphins, and whales, and turtles in the ocean by paying 40 cents for a paper bag at Countdown? 

No, because the oceans still filled with plastic. So what's the point?  

Is Xi Jinping still opening coal fired power plants? Yes. 

Is Donald Trump about to start drilling hell for leather, for more oil? Yes. 

So what are we doing? What difference are we making? 

Why should we bother? 

They just had the climate change conference in Azerbaijan, the Petro State for goodness sakes, and everyone flew there on an airplane, and I'm paying 40 cents for a paper bag. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I paid forty cents for a paper bag while shopping
at my local supermarket the other week. Forty cents. Remember
when they used to cost ten cents back in the
day when they swapped them out for plastic bags when
they ban those which used to be free. By the way,
forty cents And guess what they had printed on the
side of this paper bag that you buy to put

(00:21):
your groceries in. They had printed little Christmas trees for
goodness sake, So you chop down trees, you make paper bags,
and then you print more trees on them, and we're
supposed to be saving the planet. This is stupid. It's dumb,
and it's forty cents. It's a lot of money. It's
a lot more than free, which is what we used
to get the plastic bags for. And they're not reusable.

(00:44):
You put a two liter of milk in there, it's wet,
it's sulky, and it just falls straight through. It's not
a reusable thing. And here's the problem I think with
environment and no one. People are probably over the paper
bag thing and used to it by now, and take
your own bad eggs is the other thing. But I forgot,
So what are you going to do. But here's the
thing with environmental costly environmental policies. This is stuff like

(01:10):
you know, your emissions trading scheme, charge on the petrol
that you put in your tank, or on farmers, or
the ute tax or the cycle way bills that we
are paying for. The issue with all of this is
getting us on board with paying to fix the planet
when we're such a small part of it. You know,

(01:31):
are we really saving all the dolphins and whales and
turtles in the ocean by paying forty cents for a
paper bag at countdown? No? Because the ocean's still filled
with plastic. So what's the point is you know, shi
Jingping still opening coal fired power plants? Yes? Is Donald

(01:51):
Trump about to start drilling helpful leather for more oil? Yes?
So you know, what are we doing? What difference are
we making? Why should we bother? They just had the
climate change conference in Azerbaijan, the Petro state, for goodness sakes,
and everyone flew there on an airplane And I'm paying

(02:11):
forty cents for a paper bag. For more from early
edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News Talks it
be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,