| | Plastic Bags from SupermarketsPage 1 of 3 (1, 2, 3) | The media have highlighted in the past week that certain supermarkets are considering making a small charge for plastic carrier bags.
Bearing in mind that so many plastic bags (and other the majority of other household waste) ends up in landfill, polluting our world and in some cases harming our wildlife, I wondered what other POFers thought of this.
Is it a good idea to charge for these bags, and do you think it will cut down on people using them? Do you recycle your plastic bags and maybe take them to the supermarket the next time. Perhaps you may think we should ban them altogether, or maybe you think it's all a waste of time?!
Your comments welcome. | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/4/2008 1:49:04 PM | | On a £100 shopping bill I would use probably 10-15 shopping bags, at 5p a shopping ba I'm hardly going to flinch at the extra, I say go with what the co op do and make these biodegradable carrier backs with a 10 year half life. Charging just wont work, the only way it can work is to stop supplying them full stop. I don't recycle carrier bags because I'm far too forgetful in truth! | |
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willow
| | Joined: 12/11/2005
Msg: 3 | |
| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/4/2008 1:54:59 PM | I use my plastic carrier bags in my waste paper bins..
I do tend to take my own if I go to Aldi as thay charge for their bags..I did buy a couple canvas bags from Tescos last time I was in, at least they dont cut in to your fingers if you have any weight in them.. | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/4/2008 1:59:13 PM | I try and take a back pack...i think generally the UK is very lazy on packaging..and i dont do as much for the environment as i could but i do not generally use carrier bags. Ask yourself next time you pop into a shop if you need one for a bag of crisps etc!
They supposedly have found plastic in our deepest darkest marine trenches! That is scarey! | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/4/2008 2:03:58 PM | All this recycling/enviromental bollocks is really beginning to get on my tits
Gives the chattering classes something to get in a state about. The worthies at the local council something to f***k up and complicate spectacularly. And the government a cash cow - the highway robbers should be wearing f***king masks.
I don't like sermons or being preached at. Especially by brainless automatons.
The landfill thing I can understand BUT how about we make it people friendly. Yes? How about there is a nationwide scheme which we all local councils have to adhere to AND is conceived by someone who has actually has common sense and a brain ie nobody with anything remotely to do with a committee, public office or in the civil service.
As for the supermarkets - they are going to be lapping this up as they no longer have to provide free bags. If they were serious about this they would be looking at the excess packaging that comes with their products. Judge people by their actions not their words. | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/4/2008 2:14:05 PM | There is a website which give you a very easy pattern for making your own fabric bags.
www.morsbags.com
It's a very basic site, but that's all it needs to be. Whenever possibly I take my own bags with me, I have all types that I've made, I've had some given to me, and I have the canvas ones from various stores, and I'll use any of them in anybody elses shop eg, Tesco bags in Asda, Aldi bags in M&S etc.
I do feel that then number of plastic bags given away by shops is appalling (I can come away from a big shop with 20 carrier bags, and it's not dissimilar if I shop online), and I have a vague recollection that some of the shops used to charge for them. I think they should stop providing them all together. And that we should all go back to smaller, more frequent shops with a basket, string bag and/or shopping trolley on wheels. You can get some quite nice one trolleys these days, they don't have to be tartan. You can even get ones that fold up, so you only need to unfold it when you've bought a lot of stuff.
Or they could provide paper bags like they do in the US. | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/4/2008 2:21:24 PM | Didn't Tesco's have a run on plastic boxes that you put straight into your car, once bought they could be used again and again..
Anyone know what happened to them  | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/4/2008 2:27:43 PM |
Charging just wont work, the only way it can work is to stop supplying them full stop
You'd be suprised. They brought the plastic bag tax out in Ireland in 2002. Within just a few weeks, plastic bag usage had dropped by 94%. Now they're a pretty uncommon sight. All the high street stores scrapped their plastic bags for paper. Everyone brings their re-usable bags with them to the supermarket. It's a very minor incentive, but it just completely changed people's habits. When I moved over here, I was completely shocked by how many plastic bags my flatmates were going through. I still always bring my empty re-usable bags out with me if I'm going shopping. | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/4/2008 2:37:26 PM | | Another one who agrees with message 5 - there'll be a tax on fresh air soon (hah, hah - that'll get all those sporty types once and for all!). | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/4/2008 2:51:08 PM |
Didn't Tesco's have a run on plastic boxes that you put straight into your car, once bought they could be used again and again..
I'm not sure about tesco but Safeway certainly did. Youcould scan your shopping as you went along then just get it checked quickly at the checkout. I used to use the system regularly and had four of the boxes. Now they are in my shed being home to some priceless and irreplaceable junk.
I have about half a dozen of the bag for life doodads. I keep forgetting to take them out with me and they also are gradually being used for storage. I also have a collection of carrier bags that I keep for use in bins etc. I really need to gather them together and take them for recycling, if only to get them out of my bloody kitchen.
Ban carrier bags, please! | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/4/2008 2:55:16 PM | IYS ALL VERY WELL EXPECTING US TO FORK OUT but our the big supermarkets
(tescos are going the same route as M/S an charging for bags) going to change there packaging schemes,an not cover everything in so bluddy plastic,
surely they should be telling their suppliers to draw the line as well by them helping the situation. | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/4/2008 3:37:51 PM | same as hula, i have 5 or 6 hessian bags that i bought from tesco's and every week without fail i get to the checkout and think 'fook' i forgot to bring the bags in with me!
the intention is there, but the brain hasn't quite caught up.. | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/11/2008 3:39:43 PM | The answer is blindingly obvious.
Those who have the power to do so, should step in and say something along the lines of... "All standard plastic bags available to bag your shopping in the supermarkets from 2010 onwards, must be bio-degradable., we are giving advance warning to the factories and suppliers of the major supermarkets that it will become illegal to make the normal plastic bags from september 2009.." etc
Would this ever happen? No.. Why? Because they dont dare to step on the toes of those who line their pockets so well, the superpowers of the supermarkets are a strong force and the government are profiting quite nicely from their presence in the industry/money making world that drives them.
Its all about the money, so much so, that it would come as no surprise if the budget announces a stealth tax of 5p per plastic bag at the major supermarkets, which again, would be more money lifted from joe public in the easiest possible way, with no effort or greener result except making even more money from us, without a real care or a hoot for the environment, its just your cash they're after!
vvvv
i doubt a few pence will stop many people using them on their shopping trips, the government already steal more than 60% on the price of petrol, not to mention booze and fags, just because they know they can get away with it, people just cough up the extra without too much of a fuss don't they? | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/11/2008 3:55:54 PM | The bags aren't "free" - they add a few pence onto groveries to cover the cost of the bags.
A small charge will cut down on people using them. I use the bags to carry my shopping home, then to line thte waste paper bin. After that they just go into the rubbish. | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/11/2008 4:38:36 PM | Charge for what? For the bags that fall apart before one even gets to the car?
LOL
In my local Asda, you can not take the bags off the roll any more, the cashier pulls them off for you, rationing in the process.
I double them as I KNOW they are not fit to carry the weight.
I happily pay for LIDL bags which are much stronger, with proper handles that do not dig into your hands when you carry them.
Bags are causing a problem?
On my weekly shopping, I have masses of useless plastic used as packaging that I do not want in the first place.
Let them sort that out first.... | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/11/2008 5:11:21 PM |  I did`nt read all the posts...but, here in Canada Cornwall, Ontario they charge 5 cents per plastic shopping bag in grocery stores.... but our land fill sites are loaded with these plastic bags...So , the Ontario Gouvernment is encouraging shoppers to use the made for reuse heavy duty bags you buy for a dollar..and theare good for years...
I purchased two good size ones at our local building supply store at 99 cents each, then I bought more for Christmas gifts ...... were I live there are a lot of young married kids with little babies, Often being out door they will wave hello, and I call them over and give them two of the large shopping bags....
It wont be long when they will take those flimsy plastic bags off the market.....
Iam so glad, on windy days these bags fly all over the place... john | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/11/2008 5:40:25 PM |
I use the bags to carry my shopping home, then to line thte waste paper bin. After that they just go into the rubbish
I do exactly the same with good intentions in between of using the reuseable bags I bought on the last shop but forgot to take with me.
I thought it would be a great idea if the stores used the paper bags like {I have in my head} the Americans do, but I read somewhere recently that it takes a tremendous amount of energy to manufacture these paper ones compared to the plastic bags.
I dont think biodegradable bags for shopping would be any use - we've got them here for food waste and they are so flimsy - they wouldnt carry anything.
And again, I read somewhere that, when Ireland stopped using plastic bags in stores the sale of plastic bin bags rose considerably as people used these for their daily rubbish instead of the plastic supermarket bags.
Somethings got to be done though... | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/11/2008 7:13:47 PM | I haven't used plastic carrier bags for god/dess knows how long.
as soon as they brought out the re-usable ones, i bought ten and always keep some in my car, just in case i have shopping to do whilst i'm out.
I think its a good idea to charge for the plastic kind though.
Lidl and Aldi already do it as a matter of policy since they opened in our town, so why shouldn't others? i don't see it as making extra profit but cognitively training people to remember to take re-usable bags with them so that theyre reducing waste.
I do think that eventually plastic carriers should be banned.
Whats wrong with boxes? recycled from goods delivered to the shops? if people are too tight @rsed to buy re-usables. | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/11/2008 8:57:51 PM | I double them as I KNOW they are not fit to carry the weight.
I double up too, only because I am on my bike cycling miles in all weathers with at least one on each handle bar and I know that even then, I'm asking for trouble as I get battered by the wind and go up n down kerbs, the bags get scraped/torn/damaged by the front wheel on every bounce.
On the upside, I'm staying green by not taking the car. I'm an able bodied person, and if I can cycle there and back, I will. It saves money, and saves the environmental damage by lowering the carbon trail I'm leaving behind to get there and back.
If they could make biodegradable plastic bags that were strong enough for the purpose, and could be re-used, that would solve all our problems. LIDLS and ALDIS sell the huge bags that are stronger than normal, and they are not as profitable companies as WALMART/TESCO who are the multi billionaire outfits that have taken their power to silly advantages where they even rip off the farmers/suppliers and dictate to them the prices and delivery times, not the other way around, putting UK food suppliers out of business and going abroad for cheaper sourcing of products.
Too much power, not even the government seem to be able to do much to curb them abusing their powers and ruining the environment by flying all their products around the world and back again before it gets to the shelf, all overly packaged in plastic and having traveled hundreds of air miles polluting the environment on daily flights and then loaded onto lorries for further transport up and down the country via various packing lines, warehouses and british labeling systems even though its just come off a plane from abroad they're allowed to call it british if it was last 'tampered with' in this country. A joke of a system.
And we're more concerned about a piece of plastic that melted down is no bigger than a thumbnail than the airplane fuel and the chemicals pumped into our food whilst abroad? Its the global transport systems all over the world where labour is cheaper, products cheaper, and where the UK food laws are harder to enforce/monitor, the extra/needless mileage racked up on its journey and the over packaging that goes with it.. that should be tackled first, before anything else!
Last time I came out of the supermarket on my bike, I noticed a single female get into a people carrier, (4x4 monster of a vehicle). One lone bimbo with one bag of purchases only!!!!!!!!!??? Now thats a crime in my book. The irony of it all.. I saw someone who looked just like her on a cycling machine at a gym lmao!! Get on your bike, in the wind, with shopping bags, now thats a proper way to keep fit whilst doing your bit for the environment. | |
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Posted: 3/12/2008 1:03:19 AM | perhaps this would help ? go to ikea and for 30p you get a large nylon carryall that will fill half a shopping trolley use thes to load ya shopping in to at the checkout wheel to thar in ya trolley and life is bag free and simpler they do a smaller one too that is ideal for smaller amounts plus the handles dont kill ya hands like plastic ones | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/12/2008 1:39:10 AM | Yes, those blue Ikea plastic holdalls are good, but for supermarket shopping they could be a little deeper!
I carry a canvas shopping holdall from Sainsburys in my handbag and use that for my daily shop after work.
Did anyone see the front page of the Daily Mail a couple of weeks ago. The whole page was about the fact of the pollution and danger of bags.
At the top of the front page a family with supermarket carrier bags full in the supermarket car-park and below that a photo of a beautiful turtle, underwater, with a carrier bag trapped in its gut, coming out its body.
People won't mind paying for bags. My local Netto charges 3p for flimsy ones and 9p for really strong ones.
It's not a question of money. On a supermarket shop a few pence extra for bags means nothing to the shopper. | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/12/2008 2:34:56 AM | I have about 5 of those hessian (is that what they are?) ones from Tesco and they are great, much better than the plastic ones and they sit much better in the car. I do use the plastic bags that I seem to have hundreds of lurking around for using in my bins. If I go to the local shop I ususally just put the shopping into my handbag or carry it home if it's just a bottle of milk or some bread or something.
I don't think charging for the normal plastic bags will make a difference because as has already been said, if you're spending £100 or whatever on shopping a little bit extra for the bags won't make a difference.
When I was in France last year visiting friends I noticed that they don't have any plastic bags in the supermarkets, you have to bring your own bags and to be honest from then I thought it was a great idea. | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/12/2008 4:00:54 AM | Ok, what about people that do not drive?
Are they supposed to carry several bags in their pockets just in case they happen to buy something on the way home?
Easy to keep those in the car... if you drive . | |
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Posted: 3/12/2008 4:46:58 AM | The asda bags are the worse, i double them as well because they split before you can even get them to the boot of the car, and what about people without cars? what are they supposed to do?
I try and be green minded, and use the plastic bags to line the little bin in the bathroom for instance or use them as rubbish bags so sort of recyling in a way :) | |
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| Plastic Bags from Supermarkets
Posted: 3/12/2008 4:56:49 AM |
Bearing in mind that so many plastic bags (and other the majority of other household waste) ends up in landfill, polluting our world and in some cases harming our wildlife, I wondered what other POFers thought of this.
Is it a good idea to charge for these bags, and do you think it will cut down on people using them?
It is a good idea, so people would use less of them and save a whale or two... At the same time boosting profits of the supermarkets. | |
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