Donkeys and Plastic Bags

Starting January 1, Turkey enacted a law (originally announced a few months prior) stating shops must charge 0,25tl (currently a little less than $0.05) plastic bags, and general public is completely outraged. 

To be fair, it probably FEELS more like $0.15-.20.  For comparison, 0,25tl is about 1/4 the cost of a small bottle of water.  But you only pay if you don't bring your own reusable bags.

I feel bad for the cashiers at grocery stores who have been so apprehensive when telling people bags are no longer free.  I’ve seen so many people shout at checkout counter, as if the cashier personally chose to charge them.  I saw one woman bring in handfuls of department store bags and leave them at the register intentionally making a scene until the cashier handed them back to her.  Headline news featured a photo/video from another province where an older couple brought a donkey into a grocery store to load up their wares.  There’s was another one of a shopper walking down the grocery store aisles with wheelbarrow.

I personally don’t understand it.  I mean, I do understand why people are upset, but I don’t understand their unwillingness to adapt or change.  Turkey has a MASSIVE problem with pollution.  The sea and shorelines are awash with trash, the parks are littered with plastic bags and bottles.  And while I do feel for those impoverished people to whom 0,25tl is a lot (especially if you start multiplying that times the bags you need), there are still ample alternatives.  Resusable plastic and cloth bags can be purchases for less than $1, and one neighborhood in our city even gave away several thousand resuable bags by offering one in exchange 5 plastic bottles in exchange.

Most people would hail such efforts to reduce waste and plastic consumption.  I think it just goes to show that environmental mindsets are difficult to foster in developing countries where the economy, poverty, and wealth gaps are substantially larger problems for the every day life of an average person.