Say NO to plastic bags

binna

I've been taking all of my plastic bags to our local Tesco to recycle, but I'm starting to wonder whether I should only be putting in Tesco carrier bags? please could someone clarify this?

gromituk

No, they're all the same. Better to try not to acquire so many in the first place, of course!

mirandamayhem

We have started reusing our plastic bags, and have taken a load to the recycle point. When these bags are useless we'll think about getting the bags for life, or more cotton bags, haven't decided yet.

rackstar

All the more reason to reuse:

http://www.anglopackaging.com/acatalog/Environment.html

pezza88

I work on Sainsbury's checkouts and they have small bags that fold to fit into a handbag or (big) pocket. They cost 75p which is quite a lot, but they are durable, won't wear out when folded, and expand to a decent size. Perfect for a one-person shop.

A story of a very un-ecofriendly customer:
"She was buying 6 bottles of wine and asked for a box for them. When I said we didn't have one, she huffed and proceded to wrap each bottle in its own bag and then put 2 of these wrapped bottles into a bag. 9 bags for 6 bottles. :mad: "
If you put all 6 vertically in one bag, and stuff things round the edge, they can't rattle and the environment has only one bag to cope with

gromituk

A perfect case for the plastic bag tax, if ever I heard one!

exlibris

Wig wrote:

I use a strong one from a French supermarket E'Leclerc

The tesco ones are flimsy and soon will wear out, I know they exchange them for new ones, but that's not how it should work!

I still have one -just one- of the original Tesco Bags Monet/Manet or someone. Is this a record?

Zeldazog

Just to add my two-penneth....

I've noticed that sometimes, in Boots, if you only buy one or two small items, they will ask if you want to pop them in your handbag or a bag you already have. Well done Boots!

Like quite a few on here, I reuse carrier bags as bin liners - okay, perhaps no more environmentally sound than bought ones, but its only one lot of plastic added to the landfill.

Whilst bio/degradable bags are a good idea, if you are putting your rubbish in a bag, then assuming you are already recycling what you can, then you're probably using the bag on something that isnt' recyclable anyway - so it will only go into landfill. As long as these degradable bags are not more expensive to make, then I don't suppose it matters, but do they cost the same to make and are they made from recycled polythene or virgin?

I used to work at a polythene recycling company and we didn't make degradable ones at our factory because we couldn't - I don't know the reason why though.

I think a tax on each bag is an excellent idea, it'd certainly remind me to take my own! After all, I now quite often shop at Aldi or Lidl (like a good MSE'r) and 3p per bag is enough to remind me to take my heavy duty ones with me!

GlennTheBaker

About a year ago, at our shop we noticed that we had a lot of people coming in and buying something really small like a cake and asking for a carrier bag. The thing is, it was the same people every day. What the hell were they doing with the bloody things?! Anyway, we decided to impose our own carrier bag tax of 5p, trying to discourage this and it has pretty much worked. We still get folks coming in and moaning like hell about it or proclaiming in a very loud voice that they have brought their own bag due to our extortionate charge!

binna

what else really annoys me is when ordering from an online supermarket (think it was asda), they pack items seperately from others. For example dairy, freezer, tins and toiletries were all packed in seperate carrier bags. I wouldn't protest as much if all the bags were full, but some had only one item in, which could really have just been put in one of the other bags.