For some decades at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, you served us well. You carried our groceries, you lined our bins, you helped us move house or return a piece of clothing to a friend or relative.

But you had some bad faults as well. You never did decompose very well, so being with us for thousands of years was not very helpful when your job was over within a few hours or days.

And you tended to create traps for birds and sea creatures. And the thing you were made of – oil, a fossil fuel – emitted greenhouse gases into the air which made the atmosphere a little warmer than we liked.

You were very convenient, but now it’s time to say goodbye. Don’t worry about what we’ll use instead. We can figure it out.

It might take a little getting used to; it might be hard to remember to bring a reusable bag when we’re shopping. But we do manage to remember to bring our wallet when we shop, so we’re clearly capable of remembering things.

And if we get to the counter without a bag and have to buy a new one, it might make us form new habits.

Some of us here in Bathurst think that this town can go totally plastic shopping bag free, starting now.

Members of groups like Greening Bathurst, Skillset, the Bathurst Wholefood Co-op and the Bathurst Community Climate Action Network had been talking about this possibility on and off for some time.

Now that Woolworths and Coles have announced they’re phasing you out (joining Aldi, who were already there) we think it’s time to take this city-wide.

We don’t need to wait for any laws to come down on high. As a community, we can choose to do it ourselves.

We can dust off our sewing machines and make grocery bags out of recycled clothes, sheets, anything that comes to hand. They don’t have to look pretty, they just need to do the job.

So goodbye plastic shopping bags, and thanks for all the fish. And meat and tinned goods and packets of chips and all the other things you helped us to cart around.

We can get along without you now.