THE green shopping culture is nothing more than just mere publicity for certain supermarkets. Trading plastics for cardboard? How many trees do they have to chop down for that? Plastic bags these days self-destruct anyway. Try keeping them for a couple of years, they'll just go completely to shreds!

If that's still not good enough, send them for use in land reclamation.

It's after all a very Malaysian way these days to reclaim land — in places like Tanjung Tokong, Penang, etc. If not, just ship them to Singapore.

If people are really serious about going green, try targeting the main problem areas. For example,  manufacturers now seem to programme short usage times before failure of parts for the things they make.

Just think — how many of us have to change our car parts so often because they just don't last? How many car owners resort to opening their car doors at toll booths to pay the toll? What about those lower arm bushes and shock absorbers that wouldn't hold up to the Malaysian roads? Clutch cable hinges are made of plastic — why is that so?

How often do we have to replace our car battery — which simply don't last and imagine the carbon footprint to recycle them so often. Cabinets with drawer baseboards that keep breaking off, couches with cushions that go too soft in just a couple of years, tables of low-quality chipwood that breaks off easily.

How many pairs of slippers are sold as they don't last? Guess where they all go to? Are these things biodegradable?

What about food producers who make consumers pay for packaging their food in plastics and styrofoam containers? Many food packages come with colourful and expensive packages that takes lots of resources to produce.

Has anyone wondered about the carbon footprint in producing any kind of bottle, container, carton, etc? What about the disposable cups and foam utensils at fast-food outlets? Pizza boxes? And here, we are discussing what a couple of flimsy plastic bags are doing to our environment, blaming the users for stuffing up the dumps.

Rang
Kuala Lumpur