Plactivism! An Origin Story.

Several weeks ago I was browsing the vegan magazines in Tesco to see if any were worth buying, (I decided in the end that Pinterest would do), behind me there was a couple looking at single use plastic wine cups.

As they walked off, I was fairly angry that Tesco put these disposable products in convenient places to try and up-sell them to people. So I looked in my bag and found I had a pen and I wrote on the ticket "Say no to single use plastic", in very poor, scruffy handwriting.

After that I went off to do my usual shop. You always start at the fruit and veg aisle. Then it hit me that I should also write on the cardboard boxes that the single use plastic bags come in. The amount of times I see people put a bunch of bananas or a single pepper in a plastic bag and then proceed to put them into their reusable shopping bags as they scan and shop. INFURIATING!

So I went round with my pen, trying not to look suspicious but also frantically scribbling on these boxes. I wrote things like 'Say no to single use', 'Do you really need a bag?', 'Save our oceans', and the response to it on Instagram was pretty supportive!

So the next week I went back and did it again, but I was a little more bold. Some of the boxes I'd written on the last week were still there so I decided to target the fuller ones.

"Go naked, refuse the bag"

Again, very popular reception. We'd discussed on Instagram in the comment section of the posts, how awesome it would be to get a sticker or stamp made so you could just stamp and run! Then the wonderful people at the English Stamp Company messaged saying they were sending me a package!

What an awesome package it was too!

So now I have proper equipment, I'm a professional Plactivist! I couldn't wait to go back to Tesco. I put my stamp pad open in my bag as I walked around, had my stamps poised and off I went.

It took a few goes to get the technique and position right. Those metal bits don't help! But the message is still there and ready to make people think.

I did realise though, I'd seen a lot of people saying it was the companies responsibility to change and that consumers don't have the power. Which completely wrong. Companies deliver what consumers want. You vote with your money. Companies won't sell something they don't think people want, it's pointless to them. So if they aren't losing any custom why would they bother to change?

Consumers, however, can make changes themselves. You don't have to use the plastic options, you can switch to plastic free alternatives. Companies will realise they are losing sales and make changes. That's how supply and demand works. Consumers control the demand. We have the power.

But with my plastic bag issue, obviously Tesco make no money from the plastic bags, they aren't going to be likely to change. They believe people still want plastic bags, and people believe Tesco would change them if it was an issue. It's a standstill. Someone has to budge.

I figured it was only right, while I was putting these messages out, encouraging people to make the switch from plastic bags, to actually offer them an alternative, so they could see the sign and make the change straight away.

I'm not a billion pound company who could easily afford to swap all plastic bags with paper ones, I'm just one 28 year old woman on below average salary, trying to get people to open their eyes.

So I ordered 500 paper bags off Amazon and figured I'd start with that. I used my 'Paper not Plastic Please' English Stamp to label them up and then left 100 of them with various loose veg.

Every week I put out another 100. It's not very many so they probably don't last long, assuming people actually use them!

I haven't tagged Tesco in any of my posts, nor have I been told off by any of the staff. I'm not trying to target Tesco, I'm trying to target the consumers who could easily switch to reusables themselves. I would love to be able to leave reusable bags out, but 1, I'm not a rich, and 2, people might just assume someone else has left it by accident and not use it.

If someone sees a negative message about plastic, and it encourages them to look into avoiding it or seek another alternative, then it's been successful. Sometimes you only need to plant a small seed to make a thought grow.

One day though, it would be amazing if Tesco, and indeed all supermarkets, had reusable bags available to buy off a clip strip in the veg aisle, placed right next to all the scanners and stopped having the plastic bags. Maybe one day.

Until then though, this Placitivist will keep at it.

Let's STAMP out PLASTIC!

You can purchase your own stamps from English Stamp Company by clicking on any of the pictures featuring one of their stamps, it will take you to their website.