OK, I get it. If Sooke residents are going to the grocery store, or the so-called drug stores that sell everything from toiletries to electronics to bananas (one, in particular, appears to have replaced people with machines) they should have the foresight to bring a bag to haul it all home. But I must say I was a little taken aback after suffering a hunger pang, and visiting a local fast food joint, when I was asked if I wanted a bag with my takeaway order.
“You don’t put the burger, fries, ketchup, straw and napkins in a bag?” I asked the server. “Not in Sooke,” was the reply. They then explained they could hand me the individually wrapped food items, condiments, napkins and straw, and receipt or I could shell out 25 cents for the small paper bag they customarily were put in. The former wasn’t really an option as I only have two hands so of course I chose to pay a quarter for the paper bag.
Upon unpacking my purchase, I noted that written in very small type on the underside of the small bag it said that it was made of 100 per cent recycled paper, 40 per cent of which was post-consumer materials.
Gosh, if I am going to be forced to pay 25 cents for a tiny paper bag, they could have at least sold me a new bag rather than something that has already been used by someone else.
Not sure if this Sooke policy is zealous or lunacy, but I haven’t experienced anything like it anywhere else.
Mitch Moneo
Otter Point