General Chat

Just asked daughter about her five pence replaceable bag.

It is not a bag for life but it is stronger than the old flimsy plastic bags.......and, yes, they will replace it when it wears out. (Our local Sainsbury store)

Well, we've done our weekly shop.

The majority of customers were 50+ and had taken their own bags.
Those who had to purchase them seemed to have only bought a few 'bits' which bumped around in the bottom of one carrier.

The carriers did seem to be made of stronger material than the 'throwaway' ones. Will they remember to have it ready for next time? Who knows!

Just a point re plastic bags disintegrating....yes they do, and some ( by no means many) are completely biodegradeable, but look at all the non bio plastic bags that end up on beaches and thus into the sea, and in the sea all that plastic even if it is in small pieces still goes into the food chain, Turtles and sea birds die because it blocks their gut and you my fish loving friends end up with plastic residue in your meals...

It's not the bags that go into our bins as bin bags that is the main problem, it's the thousands that don't get reused, which end up flying around. They are an eyesore to everyone , they are a danger to birds and animals.

It's just one thing that people can do.... along with buying loose veg rather than pre packed, and going for the least overpacked product generally. Yes the government could do more, rather than tinker round the edges...but the govt wouldn't have to do it if we did it for ourselves in the first place.

Here endeth the lecture.... possibly ;-)

http://www.seeturtles.org/ocean-plastic/

Lynda
Thank you for asking..............
' Beautiful grandson ' is now a strapping 20 years old and a student in London ( doing his own shopping with reusable bags ! )

Still smiling.

I bought a small jute bag from Holland and Barrett many years ago and it's still going strong. When I was in Wales a couple of years ago I discovered that we had to pay for a bag so I bought a large strong jute one in Tesco. I was elsewhere when I realised I had forgotten it so bought another strong jute one. Someone bought me a rather pretty one too so now I'm a bag lady.

This week at our local Sainsbury my daughter bought a bag for 5 pence and she discovered that when this bag gives up the ghost Sainabury will replace it free of charge. Is that the case everywhere?

Daft, isn't it? Apart from compost which went from the trolley to the car boot, the other items (3 packets of seeds) fitted in my handbag. I'd have probably turned down a bag even if it was free.
An overheard conversation last week at the supermarket tobacco/newspaper kiosk - they wouldn't have the standard sized bags to use, but would have a small version. Odd!

Thinking about it, those of us in England who have commented on this thread tend to take our bags with us anyway. It's the feeling that 'they' are fining us/ imposing new rules. We were quite happy doing our bit to protect the environment without Govt interference.

The customers packing shopping in plastic bags at the supermarket are mainly younger than us. It will interesting to see what happens the next time we shop.

Today our garden centre has a notice up re the 5p charges. They added that 'some' would be donated to a named local charity.

So if 'some' is to be donated, does that mean they're pocketing the rest? :-S

"Take an old baag shopping" Love it :-D But you'd be the last person who I'd imagine suited that bag Gwyn :-D By the way, how is your beautiful Grandson, not a little boy now eh?

I generally take plastic bags to re-use when shopping, but will probably now use sturdier bought ones, so that they can be used many more times.

Will have to find a hessian shopping bag I was given, which says........
' Take an old bag shopping .'

Scotland's regulations are also tighter than the 5p which has been introduced in England.

Someone mentioned paper bags as an alternative?
Nowhere provides a free plastic or paper carrier bag anymore.
Paper bags still cost 5p (Primark etc)

Freebies? Only those small clear bags from supermarkets for loose items such as bakery, fruit and veg. These are classed as a hygene requirement.

Other than the occasional takeaway, and bulky prescriptions from the chemist, I can't think of any others.

McDonalds also charge 5p.
As fast food comes in boxes, they no longer provide a free paper bag to put it in!

On another note, I was shopping yesterday at an out of town mall.
I hadn't really noticed it before but, hardly anyone had a carrier and therefore did not advertise where they had shopped!

I've heard most of these comments before and most of them out of my own mouth.

When the charge came in to Wales, I knew that I wasn't wasteful with these bags; after all I used them to line my bin. Well yes I did, in fact I had a whole cupboard full of them waiting to be used!

I would now have to buy bin liners, the horror of the situation. I was actually bringing home around 8 bags a week and using just 1; the remaining 7 were just sitting there, taking up cupboard space and sometimes shredding into bits.

I would have to remember to take bags with me when I shopped. This took some getting used to but I soon found that I liked the jute bags sold in the supermarket. Sharp corners didn't cause these bags to split, they remained standing upright in the boot and the contents no longer spilled all over the kitchen while I was unpacking. They held more, the handles didn't snap and they were a far better shape to pack. I would never go back to carriers for a food shop.

I would have to pay 5p to advertise the shop. Well if you were a major retailer would you miss an easy chance to advertise?

England's policies are nowhere near as strict as Wales so you could always opt to support your local shop to avoid the charge if you so wish.

Shoplifting Plastic Bags - who will be the first to be caught in this dreadful act? :-0

Someone said earlier that they use supermarket bags as bin liners. We do that as well - but now we'll have to buy them. So we'll be sending exactly the same number to landfill.

As Lynda said, there is too much plastic packaging, no regulations about that.

The government wants to be seen to be doing something but this costs them and big business nothing.

Well we know now Sylvia

I think they fill the public with untrue facts to scare them :-( :-(

If supermarkets were serious about helping the planet, they wouldn't wrap foods like broccoli and cucumbers, to name just two in plastic, there is no need to do that.

I bet there is far more food coverings chucked in the bin, than there are bags :-D

Joy, you and your son have a better idea how long carrier bags take to disintegrate . :-D

Exactly Sylvia :-D :-D

And how would they know it takes 500 years to biodegrade. :-D

They recon it take 500 years for a carrier bag to biodegrade

They are lying
There was a carrier bag think it was a Tesco's one
in the Bottom of my sons mirrored wardrobes
When I went to take it out it flaked away into dust
the contents of the bag fell on the floor

And that had only been there a few years :-D :-D

Just had a thought, yonks ago, we had paper carrier bags, then along came plastic ones, why can't shops go back to those, even if they do charge, much better.

There I've saved the world :-D