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16.01.08
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The Plastic Bag Cult
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Comment by Georgy Bovt
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Can Russians Learn to be More Environmentally-Friendly?
French supermarkets long ago stopped providing free plastic bags for purchases. Vegetables and fruit are among the few things still packed in cellophane, and durable reusable bags are available at the cash register for 3 to 4 euro. The French are already used to bringing these bags to the stores and carrying their groceries in them; otherwise they use cardboard boxes or any other containers readily available. To a modern Russian tourist, this manner initially seems cheap. However, all of these measures are explained by simple ecological reasons: it is very difficult to collect and recycle plastic bags and other disposable plastic packaging. It’s enough to take a look at the streets of Russian towns, at the heaps of plastic bags – as well as other garbage – that cover the sides of Russian roads, to see the value of the French way.
Europe, and actually the West as a whole, long ago began developing an ecological conscience and spreading it to the masses. Ecologically safe products, including household cleaners and other chemicals have long become a norm rather than something exotic. The conscientiousness of this kind of ecological behavior on the part of the common citizen is a surprise to those foreign visitors witnessing it for the first time. Russia lags behind in this field even worse than in the field of modern technologies. The garbage-strewn landscape of many Russian villages is the same as that of many third world countries – the same plastic bags and bottles.
Proper disposing of such refuse is still in a rudimentary state in Russia. Just recently, special dumpsters for different types of garbage such as paper, glass and metal began appearing in some parts of the city, but so far the effect is close to zero. Russians are simply not used to sorting their garbage; if they have a couple of beers, they throw the glass bottles in with everything else rather than separating them one by one into a separate bag and then putting them into a special dumpster. Homeless people and beggars are of some help since they collect bottles and return them for a monetary refund. But almost no one collects plastic.
In the Soviet era the situation was much better. People came to buy sour cream and even milk with their own reusable glass jars. The awful Soviet beer and the slightly better kvass was sold in the streets, poured from barrels into the customers’ own containers, either cans or three-liter glass jars. Glass bottles were almost always collected and reused or returned, and the refund value of the bottles and jars was written on the labels. It should be noted that the best situation with collecting glass containers was in the Soviet Baltic republics – there, all kinds of glass containers, without limitations, were accepted in all grocery stores. Even then they were more European.
Plastic bags were in short supply in the Soviet times; they were a kind of cult item. Ones with colored designs were really expensive at the time. They cost between 3 and 3.5 rubles, while the average monthly salary was between 120 and 200 rubles. These bags were carefully washed, dried, safeguarded and carried around until they were completely worn out. All of this, of course, was caused by poverty. However, many Russians who lived through this Soviet experience are having a hard time giving up the benefits of the abundance of plastic bags – especially since there is no real encouragement to embrace environmental principles. There is no education in schools about recycling or the importance of the environment. On the whole, the old Soviet approach prevails in the society: we should take everything from nature, and, if necessary, we should use force to take it.
The result of such a policy coupled with society’s attitude toward environmental issues is obvious: it is the trash-covered backyards and streets of our cities. It is also the inefficient use of resources and the non-productive functioning of the economy: almost all packaging is disposable, while the concept of recycling is practically nonexistent in the country and in its economy.
The authorities are slowly moving along the path of increasing ecological standards for motor vehicles: this year Russia introduced the Euro-3 standard for automobile engines, and next year the same standard will be introduced for automotive fuel. But in this area, too, we are decades behind Europe.
As for the everyday ecological consciousness, we have not even reached the state of initial understanding of the seriousness of this problem.
As paradoxical as it may sound, in order to introduce the French supermarket practice to the masses (which was done in France, by the way, by local communities rather than by the central government), all we have to do is go back to our Soviet past. Lately it has been very popular with the majority of Russia’s elite, who are enamored by the richness and glory of its attributes and symbols. So why not capitalize on this popularity? This way, at least some good will come of it.
Georgy Bovt is a Moscow-based political analyst. |
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