Going through Other People’s Trash

The Northern Arts Council is giving me the opportunity to teach others how to make baskets out of plastic bags at the Ferguson Farmers Market this coming Saturday from 9am to 11am. Yeah! Come see me!

I have managed to stick to my goal of not bringing more plastic bags into my home really well, which means that I don’t really have any plastic bags for such a demonstration My disciplined approached to a past goal is currently thwarting my newly created goal. I asked Mel if he could ask for the bags out of the recycle bin at our local Schnucks on his way home.

Mel went to the customer service counter and approached a cashier he recognized. “I’ve got perhaps the oddest request you’re going to have today,” he says to her. She paused, looked at him, and took a deep breath before saying, “Ok. Let’s hear it.” Mel told her he wanted to take the plastic bags from the recycling bin. She crinkled up her face, seemed to start to ask why, but then changed her mind and simply told him to, “Have at ‘em.”

Mel brought home two big bags full of plastic bags. One can learn lots of things about a person by simply looking through their trash.

For example, I surmise these two bags of bags came from the same older woman by the way the bags were disposed of: clean and sorted. She has the paper delivered daily. Also she is either a serious home shopper or more likely she’s having meds sent to her home regularly. She is not faithful to one brand of toilet paper or paper towel and neither is she dedicated to one grocery store since all three major chain grocery stores and Bill’s Riverview Meat Market are represented in her pile. She does, however, favor Schnucks. She has certain laundry dry cleaned and she does treat herself to Taco Bell now and again. Overall she seems quite conscientious about her plastic bag usage and she has an organized bag collection system.

Compare this with my own disciplined downsized pile. All bags are mixed together and crumpled into tiny balls. Apparently, Mel and I eat more potatoes than this woman receives the daily paper. We are completely dedicated to Schnucks. While I do not particularly care for Taco Bell, my love of fried chicken is completely evident by this bag pile. Also, I’ve been collecting my bread bags separately for my latest basket in progress.

I hope everyone can come out to the NAC booth at the Fergson Farmers Market next Saturday to witness my plastic bag basket making awesomeness. You can show the world how cool you are by turning one woman’s dry cleaning bags in to a work of art all will envy. Plus you can pick up some fresh local veggies and. . . THE SHEEP WILL BE THERE. I love the sheep.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *