This summer accompanying the growing scares over Chinese products is the global public's heating discussion on plastics bags, bottles, recycling and BPA.

I can feel the strong anti-plastic movement as a consumer. In a popular online shopping discussion forum I go to, many are asking where to buy glass food containers, as they toss out plastic ones. Some told me they learned from media reports even the ones labeled microwave-safe and dishwasher-safe don't really live up to the claims.

Then I read Alan Weisman's comments on that topic, in an interview about his new book, The World Without Us.
He said:

We did pretty well without plastics until World War II. Now, I realize that a lot of things are great with plastics, and I don't think we necessarily have to get rid of them all.

But think about what your grandmother did when she went to the market. Did she take a plastic bag for a tomato, a plastic bag for a cucumber? No, she took one bag to the market, put all of her groceries in it, brought it home, and reused it the next time she went.

I seriously want it to be made a crime to give away free bags in supermarkets -- paper bags too. That would solve an enormous problem.

I'd like to second his point about paper bags. General-interest media have given me the impression in the recent coverage of plastic bag bans that replacing plastic bags with paper bags is a good solution. But that cant be true. How many more trees will vanish from the face of the earth to make up for the current usage of plastic grocery bags? Some argue paper bags are more likely to be reused because of its physical attributes. But I think, a consumer in the habit of tossing free grocery bags won't change his routine just because the material is different.

Instead, it's the mentality of "everything is disposable."

Several years ago, a business professor with special interest in Asia asked me why he saw everybody in China holding a plastic or paper shopping bags even with store or brand logo. He was curious whether people really shopped that much and that often. I told him they were using those shopping bags as their daily bags, sort of an alternative to fancy satchel purses or messenger bags.

Somehow, I see less and less of that in China every time I go over. Well, as the economy booms, purchasing power expands and western lifestyle gains popularity, people dispose more and reuse less.

It's that I only want it fresh and new mentality. And shamefully, I've started to become obsessed with it too. I recently moved and was seriously thinking about throwing away most housewares items and buy a completely new set. They still functioned perfectly, but I just craved a new look for my home, thanks to all the home makeover shows on TV.

The good thing is I didn't let myself do that.

But, it was not easy to resist that toss-old-buy-new temptation.