Is Chennai saying no (albeit slowly) to plastic ?

With plastic bags in use all over the place and the old jute shopping bags fading into oblivion, Chennai is no different from other Indian cities in plastic abuse. However, I seem to be seeing
an awareness about plastic bag usage and the environmental damage caused due to it.

Yesterday I was at a Spencers Daily outlet and the two customers (pretty girls) in front of me
at the checkout counter politely declined the plastic bags offered by the staff. I was mighty impressed, given the fact that anyone selling anything today dishes out a plastic bag to hold
the stuff that we buy from them, and which we have come to expect as a right.

I have been trying to avoid using plastic as much as I can. For all my grocery shopping, I carry
a jute bag and politely decline the plastic bags. Ofcourse, it does look kind of odd to go
shopping with a bag, something that we usually associate with the elderly. But then the
satisfaction of having done your small bit for the environment gives you a high.

And of late, I also see some shopkeepers asking if we have our own bag with us. For all I know,
he might be trying to save a few paise due to a plastic bag saved, but ultimately it reduces that much plastic going to the landfills. So, at the vegetable/fruit shop, I am able to get away with my tactic of avoiding the plastic bags offered by them.

It is only at the fish market that I usually fail. The plastic bags favoured by the fish sellers is the
real thin and low quality black kind, which I am sure would not be even food grade. I have tried taking my own plastic bag while buying fish, but they would nevertheless ignore me and smilingly use the yucky plastic bag.

Must try some more innovative means the next time, to avoid that plastic bag. :-)