A penny-pinching Welshman has been using the same supermarket plastic sack for the last 34 years, he recently boasted.
“My motto is, `Waste not, want not,’ ” Martin McCaskie, 72, told the Daily Mail, proudly showing off the tote he acquired in 1981 from the Tesco supermarket chain.
The durable white, orange and blue plastic bag has a large “50” on it, commemorating the company’s half-century birthday, which it celebrated back when bands such as Adam & The Ants and The Human League were top of the UK charts.
He’s since used it at least 2,000 times, he said.
“I use it as and when it’s needed, probably once a week,” the retiree from North Wales noted. “I always keep it folded in the pocket of my coat in case we ever need one.”
‘You can’t put anything too heavy in it but it’s fine for groceries. It’s got a bit of a hole in it now but it still does the job,” he added.
Like many stores in the US, recycling-conscious British retailers are also trying to cut back on plastic bags by charging customers for them –so this retro tote is particularly valuable, at least according to McCaskie.
“It’s proved very handy since the charge came in for plastic bags in Wales four years ago, but even before then I would never throw away a plastic bag,” he said.
McCaskie said he kept his sack under wraps–even from his family–until until last week, when he took it out to collect some magazines.
His daughter Helen Davies noticed it, took a photo, posted it to Facebook, and his cat was out of the bag.
‘It’s got a small hole in it but he still insists on using it. You could never tell he’s had it for 34 years because it’s so neat,” Davies said.