Not alone in the forest of paper

It's a pleasure, always, to read about other people's love of paper. And reading about it in a British newspaper isn't more or less fascinating. However, paper is scarcer in some countries and plastics were and are often replacements for what one normally thinks might come from a tree.

In Amsterdam we had no paperbags, brown or otherwise. All our trash bags were imprinted with the City's insignia and put on the canal in tight, neat rows of black shiney plastic each Monday morning.

Even file folders, and other stationary items were made from plastic not paper, and here in the States I've noticed a change from "do you want paper or plastic" to a quick wrap with industrial, but flimsy plastics. The plastic bags at my local market are so thin I often wonder if I was carrying them rather than storing them in my car if they'd make it home.