Environment | Men carrying reusable bags look comical, accuses columnist

The sight of a strong, masculine man carrying a reusable shopping bag with takeaway food looks comical, a local writer wrote in his newspaper column.
The comment stirred up a whirlpool of activity in eco-friendly social media circles, despite the writer pointing out in the conclusion of the column that education was the key to effective environmental protection.
“[Does he mean that] bringing a plastic bag looks very chic?” one social media user asked in a social media post in which a screenshot of the article was shared.
“Why is he so backward and conservative?” another user asked.
A third noted that their domestic helper habitually used reusable bags for grocery shopping.
Macau fashion brand owner Inky Leong recommended the writer buy a nicer reusable bag if he thinks the existing ones look so comical.
“This is nothing to do with being male, female or environmentally friendly,” said Leong. “We, even as fashion brand owners and designers, don’t feel bad walking back to office with a lunch box in our hands.”
“He [made] much ado about nothing,” the fashion brand owner added.
The newspaper columnist began his piece by recalling the day he bought takeaway lunch from an establishment a little far from his office. He was asked by the shopkeeper whether he needed a plastic bag.
Eyes wide open, he asked the shopkeeper whether he should carry the lunch box with his bare hands, to which the shopkeeper said that this was the practice of the construction workers nearby. He then drew the conclusion that people with low incomes wanted to save money by avoiding the plastic bag tax.
He then cited the shopkeeper on the inconvenience of reusable shopping bags faced by office ladies. One social media user pointed out that this inconvenience could have been avoided if they had brought their own containers too.