Welcome to Modbury. Don’t ask for a plastic bag!
by Ratih Asthary on 07/11/07 at 12:53 am | 10 Comments | |
Modbury is the quintessential small West Country town. Set in a hollow among rolling Devon hills just a few miles from the sea, it has 760 households, a high street, three churches, a primary school, several pubs, two takeaways, a surgery, a small supermarket and 40 or so small shops.
Not much happens in Modbury. Some say the last time the peace was disturbed was in 1643 when Roundheads and Cavaliers fought in its streets. But a revolution of another kind will take place on Monday. The historic market town of Modbury in South Devon has, from the 27th of April 2007, become Britain’s first plastic bag free town. All shops have removed their current stock of carrier bags (which will be recycled and turned into furniture)..
Spurred by environmental fervour and growing concern about the 100bn or more plastic bags thought to be littering the world and clogging the seas, the town’s 43 traders have unilaterally declared their independence from the plastic bag and have pledged to no longer sell, give away or otherwise provide them to anyone in Modbury for a minimum of six months. But from now on, if you buy olives from Adam in the deli, a steak from Simon the butcher, or a sweet and sour from Phil in the Chinese, they will come wrapped in corn starch paper. Helen in the ironmongers, Sue in the gallery and Sarah in the gift shop are moving to cotton. If tourists nip into the Co-op for ice cream, they will be given a cloth bag. Modbury will be full of biodegradable, organic, fairtrade, unbleached, recycled carrier bags of every description – except plastic.
The idea of a plastic bag-free town comes from Rebecca Hoskins, a young Modbury-born-and-raised wildlife camerawoman who went to the Pacific last year to film marine life for the BBC but experienced horrendous plastic bag pollution.
“It really affected me,” she said. “I have never cried behind a camera before. I’m not a blubby person. But it broke my heart to see animals entangled in plastic, albatrosses dying in plastic, dolphins trailing plastic and seals with their noses trapped in parcel tape roll. The sea is now like a trash can and the plastic is there for ever. It doesn’t go away for hundreds of years. What I witnessed was just so unnecessary. All this damage is simply caused by our throwaway living.”
She returned to Devon, went diving and found the seas there also full of plastic. “So I booked the Modbury art gallery, invited all the traders and showed them my film. At the end they all said they would give up plastic bags.”
Shoppers will in future be only offered the re-useable calico Modbury Bag which is being sold at a cost price of £3.95 (a smaller version is available at £1.50) or alternately cornstarch plastic-free bags for food products.
This initiative is intended to prevent the disposal of toxic carrier bags on to our landfill sites which is both harmful to the soil and to wildlife.
Billions of plastic shopping bags end up being bulldozed into our landfill sites every year, their content is toxic and inevitably a percentage of them are blown away and present a serious threat to wildlife both in the countryside and to marine animals.
“They’ve got it now,” said Ms Hoskins, who gave up her film work two months ago to concentrate on turning the town plastic bag-free. “It seems to have really brought people together. The shops have sent all their unused plastic bags to Newcastle where they are being made into plastic chairs, and they have all set up plastic bag amnesty points where people can bring in the hundreds of bags that they keep under the kitchen sink. Now it’s just a question of seeing if people accept it. We are all trembling now. To be a pioneer is pretty scary.”
But what she’s done is great right?? Yep, to be a pioneer is pretty scary but to see people following you is pretty amazing..
Reference(s): environment.guardian.co.uk, antique-fine-art.com
10 Comments
michaeljubel
Nov 7th, 2007
“Billions of plastic shopping bags end up being bulldozed into our landfill sites every year, their content is toxic and inevitably a percentage of them are blown away and present a serious threat to wildlife both in the countryside and to marine animals.”
Setuju banget gua ama yang dilakuin ama orang-orang di Modbury ini.. yah emang sih kota itu penduduknya cuman 1.533 orang sehingga mungkin gak terlalu susah untuk mengaturnya.. tapi the whole idea tuh bagus banget.. mungkin implementasi konkritnya buat di negara kita ya gak harus buat satu kota.. kayanya gak mungkin juga kalo satu kota katakanlah Kota Bandung ato Kota Jakarta tiba-tiba menghentikan penggunaan kantong plastik di seluruh pelosok. Sulit juga nampaknya.. Tapi kenapa gak dibikin simple? Misalnya nih.. toko-toko swalayan besar seperti Carrefour, Alfa, Hypermart, Giant, dan sebagainya mulai menggunakan kantong yang bisa didaur ulang oleh alam (biodegredable). Simple kan idenya.. susah gak produksinya?? menurut gua enggak tuh.. Kita (dan mereka) cuman kurang concern aja sebenernya.. Soalnya kalo gua liat-liat limbah plastik di perkotaan, seperti sebagaian besar berasal dari swalayan (termasuk mall, mini market, toko-toko, semuanya dehh..)
You are all responsible, euy.. Hehehe..
Fatrian Rubiansyah Rusydy
Nov 7th, 2007
Gw pernah mengalami di NZ (hehehe, bagi pengalaman aja nih…) Di suatu hypermart yang namanya Pak n Save (mirip carrefour cuman fokus ke makanan aja) di register sama sekali ga disediakan kantong plastik tetapi hanya kardus-kardus bekas packaging yang sudah tidak digunakan. Kardus-kardus itulah yang akhirnya dipakai konsumen Pak n Save untuk mengepak belanjaan mereka. Kardus ini mempunyai nilai tambah karena toko tersebut tidak perlu menyediakan dana tambahan untuk membuat/membeli plastik terdegradasi.
Selain itu, Gw setuju sekali dengan pendapat Jubel. Sebelum mengadakan program seperti yang ada di kota Modbury persepsi masyarakat tentang bahaya sampah plastik harus diubah terlebih dahulu. Meskipun kantongnya biodegradable tetap saja dapat mengotori lingkungan.
Oleh karena itu, marilah kita mulai dari diri kita masin-masing misalnya dengan cara menolak memakai kantong plastik jika hanya membeli satu atau dua item saja ataupun membawa kantong plastik sendiri.
It is our earth, friend.. Save it, or lose it…
Ratih Wulandari
Nov 8th, 2007
Eh2, tapi temen2 yang dari TL kynya lagi mengusahakan juga ni bandung bebas kantong plastik.. mungkin mereka bakal mulai dari yang sekitar2 ITB kali yaa.. Secara temen2 kos gw pada ribut gt kalo ngeliat orang2 bawa kantong plastik.. hahahahaha..
I quoted:
“Tih, lain kali kalo beli sesuatu, jangan mau ya kalo dikasih kantong plastik.. Tau ga sih lo, kantong plastik tuh.. bla..bla..bla.. ” Gw lupa hahahahaha..
Tapi dengan ada sapaan ky gt dari temen kos gw, gw jadi sadar juga kalo sebenernya kita sndiri udah sadar kok kalo plastik tuh berbahaya.. Cuma emang tinggal actionnya aja yang blm jalan.. semoga dengan ada yang nyadar gini, kita bisa maju selangkah demi selangkah.. huhuhuhu..
michaeljubel
Nov 10th, 2007
justru itu tih.. sebenernya kalo dipikir2 orang-orang pembuat polusi tuh sebenernya nyadar kalo yang mereka lakuin berbahaya.. kaya kalo kita lagi buang sampah sembarangan.. kita tuh nyadar “aduh buang sampah sembarangan tuh salah…” tapi tetep aja dibuang sembarangan! hahahahaha… emang harus ada kesadaran dari diri masing-masing si tih.. dan harus ada DESAKAN pihak yang berwajib juga (maksudnya pemerintahan, kepolisian, dll) soalnya yang namanya manusia kan emang sifatnya gt.. kalo ada penalti, baru dehhh.. hehehe..
dimsdit
Nov 18th, 2007
tih, jgn2 lo byk ngebahas sampah karena temen2 kos lo anak2 tl….
gimana klo kita jg berkontribusi dalam kegiatan mereka dalam mengusahakan bandung bebas kantong plastik..
masa dosen tk aja mau berkontribusi (pak tjandra diundang ama mereka) sementara kita, mahasiswa ny, ga ngapa2in
bener bel
semakin orang tau itu dosa makin orang itu ngelakuin
tapi kalo harus minta punishment kayaknya kurang bagus deh
gimana klo diimbangin dengan rewards…
kan klo punishment yg ngasih pemerintah, kita (sebagai akademisi yg klo bisa didukung swasta) yg ngasih rewards ke masyarakat yg menjaga lingkunganny
didikan yg terus di beri punishment kan ga bagus hasilny, mendingan dikasi rewards jadi manusia indonesia tau bagaimana menghargai dan dihargai….
Ratih Wulandari
Nov 19th, 2007
huahahahaha.. iya juga yaa, mungkin karna di kos gw banyak anak TLnya.. hehehe kok tau si dit?? hiahahhaha.. iya2, kemaren ada yg ngpost buletin di friendster soal lomba bikin desain kantong plastik gt? lupa d gw.. yg jelas, berarti sekarang udah mulai digerakkin kan BANDUNG BEBAS KANTONG PLASTIK?? hehehe
semoga sukses yaa.. Mari teman, buat Bandung kita lebih baik..
Pandzee
May 1st, 2008
Kelihatannya dulu Makro sempat punya ide seperti itu… Tas belanjanya dijual, tidak dikasih gratis. Tapi malahan memble ya, dilewat sama hypermart2 yang baru datang. Sepikiran dengan punishment and reward itu, seharusnya orang yang membawa kantong plastik sendiri diberi voucher yang nanti bisa dikumpulkan dan ditukar dengan telor atau minyak goreng, misalnya.
)
Saya percaya banyak orang yang punya pikiran ‘lumayan’. Lumayan, bisa dapet sembako… Lumayan, bisa ngirit ongkos… yang lebih parah, kadar ‘lumayan’nya makin besar, jadi lumayan, bisa dapet tunjangan pakaian dinas… lumayan, bisa dapet tunjangan mobil dll’ cape deeh… tapi lumayan (nah kan saya juga kena pikiran ‘lumayan’ deh) kan kalo cara pikir seperti itu bisa dipakai untuk mengurangi jumlah sampah
Anyhow, cool idea you wrote there! Makes me want to use and reuse and reuse my plastic bag till it’s irreusable anymore (since I have to BUY the plastig bag for waste here, ain’t cheap either
Ratih Wulandari
May 31st, 2008
@ Pandzee
eh mungkin cara itu bagus juga yaa.. kantong plastiknya ngga gratis.. tapi alangkah lebih baiknya kalo supermarket2 itu menyediakan tas belanjaan yang non-plastik! iya ngga sih? atau mereka ngga ngasih kantong belanjaan sama sekali.. At least itu akan memaksa kita bawa tas belanjaan sendiri (ky yang model dibawa ibu2 kalo mw ke pasar itu lhoo.. hehehhehe
Reta
Aug 5th, 2010
melihat bahaya2 yang ditimbulkannya, sudah saatnya kita mengurangi penggunaan kantong plastik.
sudah punya tas baGoes? baGoes adalah solusi nyata untuk membantu mengurangi penggunaan kantong plastik. Selain bisa dilipat menjadi gantungan kunci, baGoes dapat mengganti hingga 1000 kantong plastik.
info lebih lanjut mengenai tas baGoes bisa dilihat di http://shop.greeneration.org
yuk sebarkan pengurangan penggunaan kantong plastik ini, untuk mendukung terwujudnya Indonesia tuntaskan sampah!
Salam,
Reta Yudistyana
Greeneration Indonesia
–
Greeneration Indonesia
green attitude green environment
Kanayakan D 35 . Bandung 40135
Jawa Barat – Indonesia
Telp/Fax: +62-22-2500 189
Email: info@greeneration.org
Web: http://www.greeneration.org
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