Plastic Bags

[emmie]

will you care that you will have to pay 5p for the privilege, i can't see it making any difference at all, now if you banned them in shops entirely, then the folks would have to have a bag for life, not the missus either,
or take a trolley, backpack, some other means of transporting the goods.

[anotheoldgit]

Seems strange that we never needed plastic bags years ago, and neither did we travel to the shops in our cars, so as to cram the boot with loads and loads of shopping.

We would walk to the shop each day and carry our purchases in one or two at the most, shopping bags (the type that Roy in Corrie, still carries around) or sometimes brown paper bags with string handles and wow! how that string cut into one's hand?

I don't want to seem sexist or even racist here, but have any others noticed that it is mainly the more elderly white shopper, that bothers to take their own bags to the supermarket?

[ummmm]

AOG...were the shops local?

[sunny-dave]

Typical feeble UK Government - talk about "doing half a job".

5p is neither here nor there - it won't change attitudes or behaviour, just add to costs.

It needs to be 50p (or preferably £1) to change things - and believe me cutting out unnecessary bags will be a significant plus.

A couple of recent trips to Ireland have convinced me of this - no plastic bag litter to speak of, and this has spilled over into a general absence of all litter.

The contrast between the Irish villages and countryside (where spotting any litter is becoming very rare indeed) and our filthy, rubbish strewn, roadside verges is startling.

[sunny-dave]

I actually wish we could move to a 'the polluter pays' model - where the company that produced the can/bottle/bag is responsible for the cost of collecting it as litter.

That would encourage a return to the 're-usable packaging with a deposit' system that served us so well for decades before the throwaway society crawled out from under a stone somewhere.

[naomi24]

AOG, the shops people used to shop at no longer exist. It's a trip to the supermarket now which is often not within walking distance, so people don't shop daily.

[emmie]

SD agree, but i do think that 5p is not going to do it, scrap them altogether, people may be slow to change, but as been pointed out, we didn't need them once so why keep on using them

[emmie]

i don't shop daily, but my mother often did, she had her own carriers, not plastic, generally those cotton or hessian style bags, or a trolley, which is what i do now. its less of a bother than trying to carry bags and bags stretching your arms like an orang u tan

[Mamyalynne]

I have two fold up shopping bags that live in my handbag, so rarely use a plastic carrier.

For a heavy shop, as I don't drive, I order online every so often and they take any bags back that they use for deliver.

[Prudie]

I'd be OK with 5p or 50p. Lots of people like me go shopping unexpectedly straight from work, I'm not prepared to have bags in my handbag all the time just incase.

[lady-janine]

I've got a collection of tote bag in the boot of the car to use when I go shopping. too far just pop round the corner for something. also carry one of those little fold up nylon things in my handbag for impulse buys.

have noticed that some people leave some of those little bags in their trolleys and they just blow everywhere. any suggestions on how this blight can be cured?

[Svejk]

you keep saying 5p wont make a difference, emmie, but trust me, it will/does.
We all said similar things here in Wales but it has a made a great difference to people's habits.
Sorry about that apostrophe^. It looks dodgy to me.

[anotheoldgit]

ummmm

/// AOG...were the shops local? ///

If a 2 to 3 mile walk is considered local, then yes.

[lady-janine]

those little nylon fold up bags take up about the same room as a mobile, and they are a lot stronger than plastic bags.

[Mamyalynne]

Prudie, I must admit my handbag is a bit Tardislike - these bags are not much bigger than a mobile phone when folded down though.

[anotheoldgit]

emmie

/// i don't shop daily, but my mother often did, she had her own carriers, not plastic, generally those cotton or hessian style bags, or a trolley, which is what i do now. its less of a bother than trying to carry bags and bags stretching your arms like an orang u tan ///

Hey you've got something there, I wonder if that is where the term 'knuckle draggers' comes from?

[Prudie]

I will look at those as I've not come across them, I'm thinking of my bags for life or the ordinary carriers. Having said that they all do get put to some good use at home eventually (cat liiter for example)

[anotheoldgit]

Mamyalynne

/// For a heavy shop, as I don't drive, I order online every so often and they take any bags back that they use for deliver. ///

How did you manage before the days of on-line shopping?

[emmie]

doubt it, but i have carried bags and bags of shopping and then thought stuff this, i take a bag, backpack, and trolley for more than a few bits.

[emmie]

i actually bought one of sainsbury's heavy duty though not plastic bags, and it didn't last a day, 50p for nothing, because i didn't think i needed as much shopping, so didn't take the trolley, won;'t be doing that again.

[ummmm]

We went more regular, AOG. When I was young we shopped at the greengrocer, fishmonger, butchers, bakers....and 1 shop at the supermarket which was taken home in a trolley (pull along one, not a stolen one)