Snowed under by plastic bags

Orley · Post by **Orley** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:52 pm

Supermarkets are going to start charging for plastic bags in an effort to reduce the number we put into the environment each day. They festoon fences, blown there by the wind: they choke landfill sites.

Some people think the charge is a bit of a liberty: another example of profiteering by the big supermarkets.

To them I say they have been charging for plastic bags in other countries for years and it has borne results!

There is a town in the West Country that does without plastic bags altogether.

Shopkeepers wrap food in paper; customers use the same bag over and over again. There are many more ways they survive without platic bags but I can't remember any more.

The point the people who complain about the charges are missing is: you don't have to pay it. Use your own bag - have a shopping bag like in the old days.

chrisb84uk · Post by **chrisb84uk** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:57 pm

Well they have been charging for bags here for a while, but I don't think it has deterred that many people from spending a little extra. Personally it's a annoyance, but I can see why the supermarkets have done it, and that it has shown positive results in places doesn't surprise me. I'm sure it will become more wide-spread over time and that people will look into recycling and the like!

kayleneaussie · Post by **kayleneaussie** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:21 pm

Well they were going to charge for bags over here but i think what they are going to do now is use paper bags which one of the big stores is doing already.Good idea I reckon. Or bring your own.

chrisb84uk · Post by **chrisb84uk** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:25 pm

Well I know one store that charges you for a big recycle like bag that you are meant to reuse over and over to save you from using so many plastic bags. They are pretty handy, at a cheap price and you can get a lot of shopping in them. Seems a good idea to me!

littlemissgiggle · Post by **littlemissgiggle** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:29 pm

alot of supermarkets seem to have these green bags these days,

i have a black tickled pink bag from asda and its brill,

when i go shopping now i always take bags in the car with me and then put the shopping in them when i get to the car.

:D

i have noticed that tesco have also started giving extra pints for everytime you use one os those green bags, which i think is good.

although i hate tesco myself (taking over the world) :-5

chrisb84uk · Post by **chrisb84uk** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:36 pm

littlemissgiggle;791120 wrote:

although i hate tesco myself (taking over the world) :-5

Amen to that!!! Every where you look there is one, I feel really sorry for all the tiny family run businesses that are put out of competition by them!

along-for-the-ride · Post by **along-for-the-ride** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:08 pm

I do see those plastic bags dancing in the wind many times.

I would agree to bring my own used bags to the store, empty them at home, and bring them next time I buy groceries. As long as they are in good shape.

We are almost getting to the point when we pay for everything...no matter how trivial. Just what we need with high grocery prices........high gas prices..etc.

Chezzie · Post by **Chezzie** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:11 pm

I use my green bag...also have plastic storage boxes in my boot to put my shopping in so it doesnt tumble all round the place.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:56 pm

Orley;791075 wrote: Supermarkets are going to start charging for plastic bags in an effort to reduce the number we put into the environment each day. They festoon fences, blown there by the wind: they choke landfill sites.

Some people think the charge is a bit of a liberty: another example of profiteering by the big supermarkets.

To them I say they have been charging for plastic bags in other countries for years and it has borne results!

There is a town in the West Country that does without plastic bags altogether.

Shopkeepers wrap food in paper; customers use the same bag over and over again. There are many more ways they survive without platic bags but I can't remember any more.

The point the people who complain about the charges are missing is: you don't have to pay it. Use your own bag - have a shopping bag like in the old days.

I'm all for the environment but I do have a problem with this.

I order to dispose of my rubbish I *must* bag it - otherwise the council will not take it.

All of the bags round here are biodegradable - the will not be an ongoing burden to the environment.

To remove the existing, biodegradable, bags will force me to use normal, non-biodegradable, bag for the rubbish.

I call it self defeating.

Post by **Bryn Mawr** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:00 pm

BTW, my main complaint is with the overpackaging of the goods within the supermarket - two potatoes in an expanded polystyrene tray with celophane wrapping is far worse than a biodegradable carrier bag.

Sheryl · Post by **Sheryl** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:40 pm

I would have to have several bags with me to do my shopping. I go shopping every two weeks for basic staples and groceries for 2 weeks worth of meals. And I'm very picky about how groceries are packed. I do not want raw meat anywhere near my produce. I do not want my bread smushed or my produce bruised before I get home.

And most important those plastic bags they give you at the store are wonderful trash can liners for the smaller trashcans in your home.

weeder · Post by **weeder** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:47 am

I have always preferred brown paper bags. But what I really loved was having a couple of card board boxes in the back of my pick up truck for groceries. Very neat way to carry stuff into the house. Whether or not we should use plastic is one issue... The charge is something else, because you know that the cost of those bags was already wrapped into the price of everything you were buying. This is simply an opportunity for the store to get paid twice for the bags.

qsducks · Post by **qsducks** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 5:53 am

I have been using the green recycle bags also, plus I use them for other things as they have alot of room. And when I go to the drive through convenience store I don't want the plastic bag and I get some weird looks such as "are you SURE you don't want a bag"? Yeah, I'm SURE I don't want one. Duh!

Orley · Post by **Orley** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:37 pm

I quite agree Bryn Mawr. This is the stuff which chokes our landfills. You cannot buy an item of hardware unless it is bubble wrapped and shrink wrapped to several layers.

I bought a new razor last Saturday and spent about 20 minutes and incurred several minor injuries opening it.

The boss of Sainsbury's was on TV on this very subject and he said he would LOVE to do away with unecessary packaging, but we (the shopper) like it.

He said we prefer bubble packs with two apples in because we don't want food that's been pawed by others.

So with arguments like that I suppose we are stuck with extravagent packaging until we protest as one.

P.S. Good game of Rugby at the weeked!

PurpleChicken · Post by **PurpleChicken** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:11 am

trying to eliminate plastic bags is a good step, but as everyone has said, the excessive amount of other packaging is probably worse. Personally i use a lot of green bags as they're stronger anyway. But I do actually need to get my groceries packed in bags at times - otherwise I would have to buy bin liners ... at least the shopping bags are biodegradable!

Malady Ash · Post by **Malady Ash** » Wed May 21, 2008 1:51 am

I hate it at the supermarket when you have to pull the carrier bags from the holder, many a time the handles break or they wont open, and the check out girl is going at a greater speed of knotts to get you out of her que :-5, and your shopping is mounding up at the bottom of the check out. :-2. Thats when i start panicing

Im afraid i do hoard carrier bags, and use them for allsorts of things, mainly as bin liners, collecting garden rubbish etc. But then when i put the rubbish into the green garden bin i have to empty the rubbish out of the carrier bags cos they wont take the garden rubbish if it is in carrier bags, so the bags go straight in the black bin. What else are you supposed to do with them :-3.

I agree there is too much packaging with plastic, and the vaccum packaging is the worst cos once you have managed to get into it, cos the end where you are supposed to open it never opens or rips the packaging

where you dont want it to open , always happens to me lol. and then the food has to be put in another container or plasic bag to stop it snurping up ahhhh.

Victoria · Post by **Victoria** » Wed May 21, 2008 2:25 am

Here in the Netherlands it has never been the custom for supermarkets to give away plastic bags, they always charged for them. Most people use fabric or long life shopper bags.

Plastic drink bottles have deposits on them so do beer bottles and crates this encourages recycling. we have a special wheelie bin for paper, and a small chemical bin which you put batteries, paint cans ect into. Even so the amount of packaging is astounding and plastic carrier bags are just a tiny percentage of the problem, shrink wrapped cucumbers, a pineapple on a cardboard tray and then wrapped in plastic, hardware fittings plastic wrapped per 2 on a card. a lot of which are imported from less environmently friendly countries.

We have had to pay recycling tax on electrical goods for years ranging from 2 or 3 euros for an iron or coffee maker to 10 or 15 for a fridge or washing machine. The old washing machines ect are taken away free and recycled at a special site.

This year the government here have introduced a packaging tax, its worked out per type of packaging and taxed as primary packaging or secondary packaging ie the carton round your milk is type 1 you cant buy milk loose!, secondary packaging like the shrink wrapped pineapple and hardware goods which is not really necessary gets taxed at higher rate. Every type and source of packaging will be taxed from carrier bags to chip wrappers.

The shops of course are going to pass this onto us and we have been told we can expect a 1% rise in our shopping bill as a result!

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Wed May 21, 2008 3:52 am

Plastic shopping bags are biodegradable. Have been for years. Leave one out in direct sunlight and watch it turn to dust in just a few days.

Dweedle Dee · Post by **Dweedle Dee** » Wed May 21, 2008 4:04 am

Now if something can just be done about all those 'disposable' diapers clogging our landfills.