The local attitude towards plastic and plastic bags is not simply practically based, but also has its roots in cultural beliefs and habits. For example, most people in Bali don’t like to mix toiletries with food. This is why places like Hardy’s always offer you a special separate bag. Unfortunately this tradition only adds to the number of plastic bags each consumer receives; this means that the number of bags an Indonesian consumer receives could be as much as double as that of consumers in other countries.
Shoppers I’ve talked to here also feel that it is their ‘right’ as a customer to get a plastic bag—as many as possible if the plastic is flimsy! (even though a cloth bag will last you for years and years…) Personally, if I’m only buying a few items and I forget my cloth bag, I just carry the things in my hands and then put them straight into the car under the seat of my motorbike. I’ve learnt, however, that for Balinese not using a bag can be risky business. They believe that any food you may be carrying may be poisoned by a “master of the dark arts” who may not like us or who may just be happening to pass us at the time.
Possibly another reason why people don’t like to use other alternatives for wrapping food or offering sari etc (banana leaf was the original way) could be that they feel that it is backward or village-like. The irony of this is that people are inadvertently impacting negatively the beautiful environment of Bali every time they buy canang sari offerings in little plastic bags, when the canang sari is actually an offering of thanks to God and to nature for all the Earth provides for us. Perhaps this unnecessary use of plastic needs a bit of a rethink…
