Put the ball away!

I am rereading Mr. To Hoai. The book “Old Stories of Hanoi ” (2 parts) is nearly 700 pages thick. It cannot be said that it is not interesting. The writer has the talent to write well, to attract readers. Not just for a short time but for a long time. I like the writer’s storytelling style, sometimes dotted, sometimes meticulous, the way of observing characters and objects carefully and the art of using words. To Hoai deserves to be called a master, both familiar and strange.

Let me cite an example from many passages that are worth illustrating what I just said about the person who gave birth to the extremely famous “The Adventures of a Cricket” because it will be related to the story I want to discuss about the new countryside. In the first paragraph of the story “Market Cake”, To Hoai wrote:

When going to the market, the children are only dazzled by the stalls of food. There are so many things to crave. The golden star fruit, just seeing the strung star fruit makes one drool. Not to mention the countless cakes and fruits, looking at them is so overwhelming. The stalls of food in the suburban market. The baskets, the rickety poles, under the baskets, on the ends of the poles are tied banana strings, sticky rice straw and a whole basket of leaves wrapped on the trays. Dried lotus leaves, banana leaves to wrap popcorn, loose banana leaves, Indian almond leaves to wrap rice cakes, and areca and areca spathes to pair with rice balls. At that time, there was no newspaper, plastic wrap, or rubber bands to wrap and tie like today...

Put the ball away!

Illustration: LE NGOC DUY

Oh my, how evocative a single word is, Mr. To Hoai! From the perspective of today’s readers, the past and present are clearly cut into layers. Or further, when we think of the future of mankind if we put it in the context of concerns about an increasingly polluted living environment.

The thing that the writer mentioned in “Old Stories of Hanoi” is exactly what many people hope for today. Plastic wrap, now plastic bags (nylon bags) for goods and gifts are everywhere, from urban to rural areas.

New and not-so-new rural areas are facing the problem of plastic waste everywhere, of which plastic bags are the most visible. At first, when they were first introduced, plastic bags were welcomed by people as a useful invention of modern life. Extremely light and convenient.

Traditional markets, supermarkets, and shops all use plastic bags to hold items for shoppers to take home. It is a common sight to see a woman returning from the market carrying many plastic bags. Fish bags, meat bags, fruit bags, garlic bags, chili bags...

Each item comes with a plastic bag. Let’s calculate, every day when coming back from the market, that woman uses about 4 to 5 plastic bags, multiply that by how many bags are brought home each month. Those convenient plastic bags are eventually taken to the trash can for a specialized truck to take to the landfill (in urban areas) or piled up on the side of the road or buried in the ground (in rural areas).

I have been to many beautiful villages, with charming rivers and mountains, peaceful hamlets, and spacious houses, but there are piles of garbage along the roadside. Many plastic bags containing small and large garbage are piled up haphazardly on top of each other, making it an eyesore.

The new rural areas have changed the face of the countryside. You can imagine it even if you close your eyes. It can be said that compared to a few decades ago, it is a world apart. Electricity lights up the village and all the houses. The thatched houses and mud walls of not so long ago are nowhere to be found. Asphalt and concrete roads have replaced the dusty dirt roads and muddy rain roads.

The spacious, standard school is hidden behind the rows of green trees. The medical station must also be decent and big, the old and shabby things are a thing of the past. Seeing the rural landscape like that, who wouldn’t be happy, the eternal dream of the owners of the wet rice civilization “one grain of softness and fragrance, a thousand times bitterness” has become a reality.

The reality, though not yet splendid, is still very lovely and flickering. Lovely enough to make people want to come and live there. A place worth living, I have heard such admirations.

However, it is not but exactly regrettable that many new rural areas are in debt for a long time in environmental criteria. My district is the first unit to achieve new rural status in the province.

The peaceful town on the river that curves like a crescent moon where I live with my family has been a new rural area for several years now, but I hear it is still in debt to environmental criteria. The sight of cows roaming freely through the streets and pigs raised in crowded residential areas with the strong smell of feces has not yet ended. And, sadly, people have never said no to plastic bags.

It should also be known that, according to many documents, the familiar plastic bag is made from materials that are very difficult to decompose.

Surely when it was first invented, people did not fully understand its harmful effects. Plastic bags contribute to the greenhouse effect, when mixed into the soil, they will prevent plants from growing, leading to erosion of mountainous areas. Animals on land or in water accidentally eat plastic bags that cannot be digested and die, causing pollution to the ecosystem.

When burned, plastic bags create two extremely toxic gases, dioxin and furan, which cause birth defects in children and weaken human immunity... I really shudder when reading these numbers: According to statistics from the United Nations, every year the world produces more than 400 million tons of plastic and consumes about 1,000 billion to 5,000 billion plastic bags. In Vietnam, according to statistics from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, every year we use more than 30 billion plastic bags, on average each family uses from 5 to 7 plastic bags a day.

Perhaps, we should include in the criteria for building new rural areas the restriction and moving towards not using plastic bags. It is difficult, very difficult, but if we are united and determined, I think our people can do it. We can do it by “going back to the old days, doing things like the old days”.

Every woman, every woman, every girl going to the market or supermarket carries a beautiful and eye-catching basket or bag made of environmentally friendly materials because of its easy decomposition. Why not, friendly baskets and bags will protect this world .

At the macro level, I think the Government should have the determination and concrete actions towards the goal of banning the use of plastic bags. The sooner the better. And each citizen, especially in the new rural areas, should voluntarily limit and stop using plastic bags. It would be great if the Women's Union took the lead in the campaign to encourage people to say no to plastic bags.

Then it will be like the old days, the baskets and the baskets following the women to the market. Paper and bags for wrapping things are only made of materials that are easily biodegradable. The old story told by Uncle To Hoai becomes a new story today. The story of the plastic bags that are absent from our lives.

Life without plastic bags is really worth living. I sit and think of my mother in the past, when she came home from the market and called the big kids, the little ones, the little ones, the little ones to sit next to the small basket. Mom opened it, and there was a fried cake wrapped in banana leaves, a handful of green rice wrapped in lotus leaves, a custard apple opening its eyes in amazement, a golden star apple smelling fragrantly in the three thatched houses... I miss the old days so much. How could I ever hope to "return to the old days" when plastic bags had not yet been invented.

Nguyen Huu Quy

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