General Chat

You shouldn't be buying them Joy, that's the point!

Daughter's department fined a landfill £1m a few years ago and who do you think the bill was passed onto? yep, the council tax payers.

The restrictions are even tighter now and landfill is not environmentally acceptable. More fines are coming so look out.

Still, what's my opinion worth? I won't be around when the land is so contaminated that childrens' health is compromised. I do not want my grandchildren affected.

I know what my grandad would say if he was alive. He used to turn carrier bags inside out if they had the name of the shop on them. He would not pay for a carrier bag to advertise for the shop. :-)

For me it's not about the 5p, I just don't think the whole thing has been thought through.

Large supermarkets added to the waste of bags, by practically forcing them on you, they spent 2 minutes before they served you opening bags to give you, and they wrapped every fridge item in a bag on it's own.

As for when you buy, say an item of clothing, charging for a bag, especially after you spending a large amount of money is ludicrous.

Also the 5p going towards a "good cause" heard that one before., it's just another way of making a few bob for someone.

Another thing, not sure if I live of travel in bag free places, but I've never noticed a particular abundance of bags littering, cigarette butts, cans and plastic bottles yes, but not plastic bags.

Mine isn't a moan either, it's an observation.

:-S

Where our money goes for plastic bag charges:

http://gov.wales/topics/environmentcountryside/epq/waste_recycling/substance/carrierbags/?lang=en

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

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

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

Exactly Sylvia :-D :-D

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

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

Well we know now Sylvia

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

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.

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

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.

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 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 .'

"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?

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

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.

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?