It’s Plastic Free July, and I'm challenging myself to find alternatives to single use plastic for an entire month - and to write a daily blog on the most interesting parts of the experience. Today I went to Subway to see if they’re still handing out plastic bags for dine in.
This is the packaging for a six inch Subway sandwich, minus the plastic bag. I asked the server to leave the plastic bag off, and he said “sure!” but forgot and put it on anyway. So I asked the next server to remove it.
It’s strange that a shop that asks you absolutely everything - “bread, meat, cheese, toasted, salads, sauce, salt and pepper, cookie?” - ignores one of the most important choices we can make by serving our sandwiches in plastic bags even if we’re dining in.
When I dine in at Subway and watch other customers doing the same, I see plastic bags go from server to sandwich to bin in around five seconds. What are these five second bags accomplishing?
Kebab shops have proven that all you need to carry your sandwich is some greaseproof paper, and Subway can avoid the expense and the waste of single use plastic bags by doing the same.
My colleagues and I regularly carry our Subway sandwiches without the bags, and we’ve never missed them.
What do you think? Should Subway ban the bag?