Dawn Picken: Becoming a bag lady in the Bay

A still from documentary Plastic Oceans by Australian journalist Craig Leeson.

I aim to become a bag lady. Not the woman pushing a shopping trolley along the footpath, but someone who always has a reusable bag. I'll have brightly-coloured foldable sacks in my purse; straw totes in my work bag and last-forever plastic bags in my car. I haven't yet evolved to that stage. Often, I forget bag lady aspirations and harbour a shameful secret – collecting plastic bags.

They're stashed in the same cupboard as my rubbish bin. I procured eight freebies during trips the past week to two major supermarket chains. Using disposable plastic feels almost criminal, dirty - like possessing child pornography. I'm culpable of crimes against nature when I admit I've forgotten to BMOB (Bring My Own Bag) and furtively scamper away with purchases housed in plastic, the kind that takes up to 1000 years to degrade.

Experts say we've made more than nine billion tonnes of plastic since the 1950s, only nine percent of which gets recycled. By 2050 the weight of sea plastic is expected to exceed the weight of fish.

The final episode of the BBC's Blue Planet II depicted albatross parents unwittingly feeding their chicks plastic and mother dolphins potentially exposing new-born calves to pollutants through contaminated milk. Then, there's viral video of a sea turtle, blood draining from its nostril, as researchers work to extract a plastic straw. Kiwi friends describe swimming in a sea of plastic bags and toothbrushes while on holiday in places like Thailand.

We don't have to visit third world countries to encounter plastics' scourge: earlier this week, the Bay of Plenty Times reported about the voyage of a waka down the North Island's East Coast. It sailed through a surprising amount of microplastic pollution – small particles measuring less than 5mm. An estimated eight tonnes of plastics enter oceans each year. A massive plastic patch larger than Greenland has been discovered in the South Pacific, and much of the waste is believed to have originated in New Zealand. One marine expert last year said a third of turtles found dead on our beaches had swallowed plastic, with single-use plastic bags the most common culprit.

Bay businesses such as The Rising Tide, Papamoa Tavern, Fish Face and Mount Brewing Company have ditched or greatly reduced use of plastic straws. And here, finally, is a place where my family and I have made progress. After attending a talk in Tauranga last year about effects of plastic on marine life, I decided to stop sacrificing turtles to save my own teeth. At the time, I was buying plastic straws in 100-count boxes because I used them to sip coffee. It may have kept my smile white, but the environmental consequences could be deadly. So I quit. Not the coffee, just the plastic. I bought steel straws. Score one for me and the turtles. I've reduced my use of takeaway coffee cups, especially those with plastic lids. Every family member has a couple washable drink bottles. Some of us are better at losing them than others.

While individual efforts are important, big change happens at corporate and country levels. UK Prime Minister Theresa May in January said she wanted to eliminate all avoidable plastic within 25 years. Britain's Environment Secretary has suggested plastic straws could be banned, and even the Queen has banished plastic straws and bottles from the royal estates as part of a move to decrease plastic use "at all levels." Scotland is set to become the first UK nation to ban plastic straws by the end of 2019.

Here at home, officials at New World and Countdown have announced plans to become single-use plastic bag free and reduce other plastic packaging by 2019. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern earlier this week said Government is working towards a strategy for managing plastic bag use. Around the same time, Greenpeace presented a 65,000 signature petition called 'Ban the Bag' to Parliament.

The weight of world problems percolating through the news feels inescapable, immutable – potential nuclear disaster; climate change; gun violence; authoritarian regimes deploying alternative facts. These are fearsome dragons over which I feel small and powerless. But reducing our family's use of plastics by becoming a bag lady? Totally within my grasp.

A sneaky shopping trip this week resulted in the purchase of a combination swimsuit/wetsuit. It was 30 per cent off and could make me look like the surfer I wish I were. The clerk asked if I wanted a bag. I hesitated. He whipped out a paper sack and placed my purchase inside. "There you go," he smiled. "It's paper, so you don't have to feel guilty." Maybe he had read my mind.

*More than 140 Sustainable Backyards events are happening in March throughout the Bay of Plenty. Visit www.envirohub.org.nz/sustainablebackyards for more info.