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.

[maggiebee]

I absolutely detest plastic carrier bags. Sheer laziness IMO that shoppers can't be bothered to carry their own shoppers. I've had my "fold up" type bags for years and never take plastic bags or carriers. I would charge £1 for one. Maybe things would change then.

[LyndaB]

I think they should charge at least 20p for one, if not more.

[ummmm]

They are only a bad thing when they are blowing round the street. I use them as bin liners and for excess recycling. We are told by the council to put excess recycling in suitable plastic bags.

Maggie...I have loads of them bags but keep forgetting to bring them with me.

[emmie]

i think they should have none, i know that would be inconvenient at first, but the people would soon get the message, i suspect most have stashes of them around the home, use them for the time being, or make them completely biodegradable, i don't even care for the paper carriers,
not very green either.

[ummmm]

Paper bags are not very green?

[kloofnek]

When I go to Wales,I make sure I take a bag with me..imagine paying 5p everytime you go in a shop!!!

I am now wondering about this...I do my shopping online,which comes in plastic bags when delivered...sometimes only one item in a bag...now are they going to start charging me for each one...can be as many as 10 bags???

[Svejk]

actually, and I'm a bloke, I now make sure I take a bag to the shops with me, usually. (we've had this in Wales for a while now)

[gness]

Morning, Emmie....I'd do the same Maggie...the difference it made in Ireland was fantastic. No more trees displaying a variety of supermarket bags as you drive out of Dublin.
Then maybe we can go on to tackle the disgusting litter problem this country suffers.

[maggiebee]

Kloofnek, have you ever complained to the supermarket? I would be letting them know that I don't want plastic carrier bags but have goods delivered in cardboard boxes which can be recycled.

[anneasquith]

im going to take an empty babies pram to carry my shopping,

[hc4361]

I, too, use them as bin liners and many other things such as using them to pack my shoes in to before they go in my luggage case. I keep them in the car when I take the grandkids out - perfect for stowing muddy wellies and wet towels (and for putting under muddy bottoms in the car).

I have used them for storage in the loft but they do disintegrate and much quicker than they used to. They turn to dust, literally

[treetops68]

I'm only surprised this didn't happen years ago. I remember being on holiday in S.Ireland about ten years ago and being charged for a carrier then.

[emmie]

if you are cutting down trees, paper is not exactly green, if more people used paper bags then recycled them i could understand, however the humongous bags that shops like Primark use generally seem to go in the general waste. charge for completely biodegradeable plastic bags, or simply stop producing them,

[emmie]

even these don't seem as good as promised.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7422006/Biodegradable-plastic-bags-may-not-be-as-eco-friendly-as-thought.html

[Svejk]

you can still use them for rubbish, only you wont use 1 bag per item of rubbish any more.

[hc4361]

Paper bags aren't green at all. Use a lot of raw material and energy to make; they're heavier and bulkier than plastic bags so it costs more to transport and store them; hopeless in the rain.

Reusable shopping bags whether plastic 'bags for life' or cotton can become hotbeds for germs and bacteria, resulting in food poisoning
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24727189

[emmie]

hc, have a look at my recent link, not overly biodegradeable.

[heathfield]

I remember a newspaper article on how the introduction of plastic carrier bags had transformed the face of shopping in the UK, for all the reasons you can think of. But now, I'm probably going to have to put my old newspapers loose in my recycling bin, instead of wrapping them neatly in a carrier bag. That'll cheer up the refuse collectors, not!

[emmie]

the one bag i use to put the recycling stuff in to transport to the bins is cotton and washable, i only use a backpack for small items now, or trolley for the bigger shop.

[DrFilth]

i can see fun and games in the chemist when people go and collect all their medicines and don't get a bag

especially if they drop some class a drugs in the street on their way home