A nostalgic moment for plastic bags

When I read that the LCBO might be eliminating their plastic bags, I applauded the idea though with a little bit of regret.

I am in favour of reducing the wasteful amount of plastic bags that we use and currently carry a cloth bag in my purse in order to avoid having to use them. And yet, I still fondly remember when LCBO plastic bags were crazy thick, even more so than now. Cost as opposed to environmentalism probably prompted the reduction in plastic. Yet, the heft made sense since bottles of booze can be quite heavy.

What did not make sense to me were the Bell plastic bags; those silver and blue bags were easily 1 mm thick. It is true that home phones used to feature a lot more metal than they do now but did anyone really need a bag that thick to carry their phone home? My parents used to save those bags for special occasions, when normal plastic just would not do.

Finally, I miss the smell of fresh plastic bags. It is a scent I rarely smell now because recycled plastic does not carry it and the majority of plastic bags nowadays are, at least, partially recycled. At the Food City with my parent, I used to feign helpfulness by grabbing a bag of groceries then raise the bag to my face to take in a good whiff of that fresh plastic bag smell.

I still remember when I first encountered a recycled plastic bag. My father used to regularly buy books for me from World's Biggest Book Store and the bags that the books came in would carry that wonderful smell. Then one day, the plastic bag he brought home was different. It claimed to be made from recycled materials, featured a rough surface and did not have the fresh plastic smell (!). In retrospect, the change was probably for the best since all the reading in the world would not have counteracted the possible brain damage from constant plastic huffing.

I would love to see an old time heavy plastic LCBO or Bell bag, and as with all things mundane and Canadian, a Google image search turns up nothing. If you have a cool plastic bag, don't keep it to yourself. Plastic bag enthusiasm may well be the way of the future as their widespread availability becomes a thing of the past.