Is this the publicity shops want?

Oban shops have been phasing out plastic bags. More and more, check-out staff ask customers, "Do you really need a bag?", rather than just handing me one for free. Elsewhere, a notice on the counter states that the shop will be happy to hand out bags, but will charge 5p or 10p for each bag. Way to go!

(Photo by MPJ, April 2009; cyclepath from Ganavan to Dunbeg)

But there are still far too many cheap plastic bags in circulation. Is this (above) really what shop owners want customers to see? When I see sights like this plastic bag lying by the wayside, I think of where it may well end up and what harm it may do there:

(Photo off the web)

There really is no excuse any more, as there are sufficient numbers of alternatives available, such as cornstarch bags:

(Photo by MPJ, April 2009)

They cost more, that's true, but only because cheap plastic bags do not reflect the true cost of their removal from the environment.