News35 mins ago
Supermarket Shopping Bags
Charging for plastic shopping bags (compulsory from 2015) and giving the proceeds to environmental charities is all very well. It may reduce consumption but won't end it. Many purchases are impromptu shops when the buyer does not have bags with them. Can anyone explain why shops do not provide the brown paper grocery bags (such as those used in the USA) and charge for those instead?
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"In your scenario, would you really have begrudged 5p? "
Yes. I'd spent the thick end of forty quid and was given a bag with the store's name plastered all over it. To be asked to pay 5p for such a privilege is an insult. I don't care if they add the cost of the bag to the price - then I won't know any different. But to charge me 5p to be given to a charity whose aims I may not agree with is an insult.
Yes. I'd spent the thick end of forty quid and was given a bag with the store's name plastered all over it. To be asked to pay 5p for such a privilege is an insult. I don't care if they add the cost of the bag to the price - then I won't know any different. But to charge me 5p to be given to a charity whose aims I may not agree with is an insult.
I thought they were biodegradable now, too. They certainly fall apart quickly enough. I order mine online for 6 people and is often around £350, so i find it a bit annoying that they charge for bags too. I would prefer it if that money went to environmental causes, but I'm not sure how that helps the landfill problem.
This is what don't understand about the bag tax..
Like most people I use them for bin liners. We have to because the council stipulates that we double bag our rubbish - fair enough, but If I'm not recycling shopping bags for the, purpose I'm just going to have to buy plastic bin liners.
Either way, a plastic bag is going into landfill. Nothing changes.
Like most people I use them for bin liners. We have to because the council stipulates that we double bag our rubbish - fair enough, but If I'm not recycling shopping bags for the, purpose I'm just going to have to buy plastic bin liners.
Either way, a plastic bag is going into landfill. Nothing changes.
new judge - that's kind of the point - you are not supposed to like it - you are supposed to not want to pay it - and so bring your own bag!
people wont if you just ask them nicely so you have to hit them were it hurts - the pocket
sure its only 5p, which is nothing really ... but look at how you have reacted.
the only reason they have said they're giving the money to charity is for those people who no matter what the cost will not carry their own bag round with them and also for the ones who just simply haven't got one on them.
it is to stop people accusing the stores of just trying to make more money
no-one can really complain too much as its for a good cause.
fact is, shops are not obliged to give you a bag at all - let alone one for free - most do as a courtesy, but you haven't paid for it and they don't 'owe' it to you.
i find it interesting how outraged people get when something that has been given them for free for years suddenly starts needing a fee - like cashpoints - and they get all entitled - like they deserve it or something - they forget that those things were given as a courtesy, to provide a facility, and they cost the establishment money to provide ... remember when the only way to get money out the bank was to go inside during opening hours?
people wont if you just ask them nicely so you have to hit them were it hurts - the pocket
sure its only 5p, which is nothing really ... but look at how you have reacted.
the only reason they have said they're giving the money to charity is for those people who no matter what the cost will not carry their own bag round with them and also for the ones who just simply haven't got one on them.
it is to stop people accusing the stores of just trying to make more money
no-one can really complain too much as its for a good cause.
fact is, shops are not obliged to give you a bag at all - let alone one for free - most do as a courtesy, but you haven't paid for it and they don't 'owe' it to you.
i find it interesting how outraged people get when something that has been given them for free for years suddenly starts needing a fee - like cashpoints - and they get all entitled - like they deserve it or something - they forget that those things were given as a courtesy, to provide a facility, and they cost the establishment money to provide ... remember when the only way to get money out the bank was to go inside during opening hours?
I thought I’d explained adequately that I had not set out to do any shopping but was on my way to the theatre. When I do supermarket shopping I go prepared and rarely if ever use the plastic bags they provide. However, my strides were an impulse buy - the sort of thing that the retail industry and the government is supposed to be trying to encourage. I did not have a bag with me and would begrudge paying 5p (about twenty times the cost of a plastic bag) to enable me to take away a product that cost £40.
I fully agree that marine life in particular needs protection from the hazards presented by plastic bags. However, as LG has said, the use of plastic in some form will scarcely decline. But some of the other issues this measure is said to address are ridiculous. Among the things “a LibDem spokesman” mentioned is that plastic bags are an eyesore in the countryside. If they are concerned about eyesores they should take a trip to any area with a McDonalds “restaurant”. Within 200 yards they will find enough discarded packaging to fill fifty carrier bags. If they are concerned about packaging they should prevent supermarkets using a polystyrene tray and plastic wrapping to sell a single apple. They should prevent them wrapping cucumbers in plastic when the product has a perfectly good disposable wrapping of its own.
“no-one can really complain too much as its for a good cause. “
Yes they can. I like to choose what “good causes” I donate my hard earned to. I give enough to not-so-good causes by way of taxes. I am also concerned at the choice charities the levy is likely to benefit. Money raised by the levy in Wales has gone to “Save the Children”. Have a look at their website and you will find their aims and objectives. Here’s a few:
“We help children who are missing out on school get a decent education”
“We're providing access to better healthcare and food so children grow up healthier”
“We have an eight-step plan of action for tackling global child hunger”
Quite how any of these problems are caused by excessive use of plastic bags is a little hard to fathom. Looking at the rest of their aims none seems in any way related to plastic bag use in the UK. In fact, scarcely any of the work done by the charity takes place in the UK at all. (“We work in over 120 countries including the UK”). People who want to make donations to Save the Children are very welcome to do so. I do not and I certainly don’t want to see cash ostensibly taken to help the environment when it is doing nothing of the sort.
Finally, I’m surprised that this scheme finds such support among many AB-ers. Given the general antipathy towards the Daily Mail shown by many AB correspondents and bearing in mind that the DM has, for some inexplicable reason, been at the forefront of this campaign, I’m a little confused.
I fully agree that marine life in particular needs protection from the hazards presented by plastic bags. However, as LG has said, the use of plastic in some form will scarcely decline. But some of the other issues this measure is said to address are ridiculous. Among the things “a LibDem spokesman” mentioned is that plastic bags are an eyesore in the countryside. If they are concerned about eyesores they should take a trip to any area with a McDonalds “restaurant”. Within 200 yards they will find enough discarded packaging to fill fifty carrier bags. If they are concerned about packaging they should prevent supermarkets using a polystyrene tray and plastic wrapping to sell a single apple. They should prevent them wrapping cucumbers in plastic when the product has a perfectly good disposable wrapping of its own.
“no-one can really complain too much as its for a good cause. “
Yes they can. I like to choose what “good causes” I donate my hard earned to. I give enough to not-so-good causes by way of taxes. I am also concerned at the choice charities the levy is likely to benefit. Money raised by the levy in Wales has gone to “Save the Children”. Have a look at their website and you will find their aims and objectives. Here’s a few:
“We help children who are missing out on school get a decent education”
“We're providing access to better healthcare and food so children grow up healthier”
“We have an eight-step plan of action for tackling global child hunger”
Quite how any of these problems are caused by excessive use of plastic bags is a little hard to fathom. Looking at the rest of their aims none seems in any way related to plastic bag use in the UK. In fact, scarcely any of the work done by the charity takes place in the UK at all. (“We work in over 120 countries including the UK”). People who want to make donations to Save the Children are very welcome to do so. I do not and I certainly don’t want to see cash ostensibly taken to help the environment when it is doing nothing of the sort.
Finally, I’m surprised that this scheme finds such support among many AB-ers. Given the general antipathy towards the Daily Mail shown by many AB correspondents and bearing in mind that the DM has, for some inexplicable reason, been at the forefront of this campaign, I’m a little confused.
you're not getting it.
you are not 'donating' 5p to any charity at all - you are paying for a facility they have offered to you.
you do not HAVE to buy it, no-one is forcing you, and they do not have to provide bags at all if they dont want to - there is no law that says a shop much provide a way to carry goods from their store - they do it as a courtesy, to help their customers.
THEY are donating the money from that to charity - and as it is THEIR MONEY they can choose who they want to give it to.
it is not up to you what they do with it.
you are not 'donating' 5p to any charity at all - you are paying for a facility they have offered to you.
you do not HAVE to buy it, no-one is forcing you, and they do not have to provide bags at all if they dont want to - there is no law that says a shop much provide a way to carry goods from their store - they do it as a courtesy, to help their customers.
THEY are donating the money from that to charity - and as it is THEIR MONEY they can choose who they want to give it to.
it is not up to you what they do with it.
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