Good-bye plastic bags

I’m not turning into an eco-warrior, I promise (with two small boys I’m far too worn out), but a comment from a good friend of mine on my last post is really worth elaborating on.

The nifty stunt she told me about combines two of my favourite things (bags and making lists), and, if you live in the Middle East, is coming to a supermarket near you soon.

As I mentioned, here in the UAE we are, for various reasons, consuming more than our fair share of the world. And when it comes to plastic shopping bags, the statistics are eye-poppingly bad.

The UAE is using more than 20 billion plastic bags annually, a figure that’s sparked such intense debate within the emirates that the Minister for Environment has ordered the country to go cold turkey by 2013: that’s right, by next year the UAE is to be plastic-bag free.

To promote Tide laundry detergent, the creative brains at Dubai advertising agency Leo Burnett came up with this reusable shopping bag that doubles as a grocery list.

Resembling a notepad, you write your list on the bag (fruit & veg, milk, bread, sellotape), then wash it afterwards and it’s ready for the next shopping trip. Elegantly simple, huh? The customers, fashion editors and bloggers who were sent the Tide Smart Bag (along with a marker pen and a box of the detergent) were impressed too, and so the plan is to make the bags available around the region.

If anyone from Tide just happens to be reading this (I’m tagging you now, 5 times), please send me one – I’m in the supermarket practically every other day and would be a great walking advert. Plus I reckon the bag could be a sanity saver too as the kids could doodle on it rather than pestering me for cartoon-character-endorsed junk food at every turn.

Customised and eco-chic, even I might remember to take this bag to the supermarket if it had my list written on it.

How big is your carbon footprint?

Every time I visit the UK I’m struck by the “greenness” and I’m not talking about the grassy fields and rows of hedges – I mean all the eco-friendly, earth-saving devices that help you use less of the world.

It all leaves me feeling terribly guilty, because while we re-use hundreds of plastic bags from the supermarket, never tumble dry clothes (the climate takes care of that) and do recycle some things, I drive a gas-guzzling 4×4 (show me a mum in Dubai who doesn’t?) and have little choice but to use air conditioning to cool our home for at least two-thirds of the year.

In fact, I read somewhere that UAE residents consume more natural resources than anybody else on earth, ahead of the US even, and that our per capita footprint is an ecologically embarrassing 9.5 global hectares.

Now you think we’re greedy so-and-sos, don’t you?

I have to confess I do love American Crate & Barrel’s eco-friendly Oasis sofa with soy-based cushions – so good you could almost stir-fry them – and those gas-sipping hybrid cars are pretty cool. But since conservation probably shouldn’t be all about buying more things, here are some of the planet-pleasing measures that impressed me on my recent trip home:

@RubyGingerBunty loved their Cozy Coop rain covers #scrambledplease

At my parent’s house: In line with the UK’s phase-out of traditional lightbulbs, the bulbs are all ‘green’ (not literally, obviously) and uncooked scraps are tossed in a tall container. When the pot’s full my mum empties it on the compost heap in the garden – the bag and all, because that’s biodegradable too.

At my brother’s: They keep chickens in a 5-star coop and in return are treated to a bountiful supply of thick-shelled eggs (the sign of a healthy hen). These aren’t just any old chickens – lovingly cared for by my adorable, seven-year-old niece, the hens have their own twitter account and ‘tweet’ every day. You can imagine the backtracking I did when I, without thinking, offered my niece a chicken sandwich at lunch. She eats duck wraps now instead.

At my cousin’s house: They’ve had solar panels installed on the roof and are actually selling electricity to the National Grid. I think they’ve made about 42 pence so far this winter.

Maybe it was pounds, but either way just think how much money we could make if we tapped into Dubai’s year-round sunshine and put solar panels on our villas here! Ker-ching! Not to mention the joy of charging Dewa*.

Next time I go to the UK, I’m going to see if I can bring a panel back as over-sized baggage.

*Dubai Electricity & Water Authority, whose billing system, as Dubaihousewife points out, is like being connected to a reverse lottery (4,000 bucks to water your pots, seriously?)