The KonMarie method

june89

I just had my first "bag free" grocery delivery in ages and it still came with three bags. Two carriers (one meat, one cleaning products) and one small produce bag for loose items. Will be interesting to see if they still do this next month - could end up with free bags because they can't charge for something I don't ask for!

uk_american

On the bag topic...when I moved to Germany in 2004 they already charged for bags. Most supermarkets would offer a few options near the tils: the cheap 10 euro cent bags, a stronger plastic bag for 25 cents, a cloth bag and sometimes a cool bag. Most people brought their own, or those shopping by car often had fold down plastic boxes too. Then you'd wheel your whole trolly out to your car and pack the boxes there.

I quickly became used to it and after a few years, it was so ingrained that I was back in the US for the December hols and as we were going out, I asked my auntie, "Do you have your bags in the car already?"

A conversation came about and my Nan (age 90ish) was absolutely tickled!

"This is the way we used to shop, back in the day! We never had all these plastic bags. We often used the cardboard boxes that the store provided since they would leave them out for us to take away, or we brought our own bags for a daily shop."

Personally, I never knew a time before plastic bags, so what a thought.

Over time I did notice, they had much less litter in Germany than in the US or UK. For example, at the side of the highway or near a shopping centre you often see bags in nearby grass, over there, while still existing, it wasn't as prevalent.

But I will confess, the whole experience has made me a bag hoarder for a freebie bag. I have them samosa'd under the kitchen sink like I'm prepared for the end of the world.

grandmasam

uk_american wrote: »

On the bag topic...when I moved to Germany in 2004 they already charged for bags. Most supermarkets would offer a few options near the tils: the cheap 10 euro cent bags, a stronger plastic bag for 25 cents, a cloth bag and sometimes a cool bag. Most people brought their own, or those shopping by car often had fold down plastic boxes too. Then you'd wheel your whole trolly out to your car and pack the boxes there.

Uk american I have been going to Germany for many years to visit ds and his family, and my [ german ] ddil and ds have 'trained' me very well! I use the cotton bags ,daily, that I buy when I'm there, 50c each and they wash well, and are easy to roll or samosa!

Sorting the recycling into the various bins, [they have 5!] is second nature now. Yes , there is a noticeable lack of placcy bags being discarded along the roadside. My ddil and dgd have now discovered the joy of samosaed bags and are easily keot under control.

I love this thread, and read daily, [back to lurking ]
keep on kondoing!!

Caz

GreyQueen

I'm very much pro controlling plastic bags. They cause an enormous amount of litter and even flooding when they get into drains. Plus they look so unsightly caught up in bushes and tree etc.

Evidence from countries and UK regions where a bag charge was introduced shows that usage went waaaaay down and stayed down. Those few which we have, especially the really strong ones, will be minor treasures.:rotfl:

A lot of things are merely done by force of habit. I'm old enough to have seen a fair few changes in how retail has been organised, but not enough to recall the pre-plastics era. I think I shall be picking Mum's brain, as she worked in a small general grocer/ fishmonger in the 1950s.

Of course, a lot of shopping was done on a daily basis by housewives on foot rather than the way we live now.

Floss

Although in my (very) early fifties I can recall non-placcy bag shopping, when we lived in a small Pennine village. Mum used either her oblong basket, or the basket beneath my little brother's pram / pushchair for small amounts of shopping, with paper bags for everything. A bigger shop & the greengrocers' order were delivered by their vans, in boxes (and the citrus fruits had those lovely paper wrappings on) which were either returned the next week or used as dolly beds, castles, garages or for keeping "stuff" in us kids' bedrooms.

wort

I remember ladies using wicker baskets to go shopping (I'm in my early 50 s):eek:
But as said shopping was done on a daily basis at local shops.

M and S donate the 5 charge after VAT to charity and will continue to do so.
I think paper bags are exempt but some shops will charge so the customer isn't confused:o

I know that retailers will be prosecuted if they hand out any free bags,so N*XT certainly won't be doing it at their sales in future.

Sending hugs Jo4 hope all is well x

mrs-moneypenny

Justkondoed 4 land rovers worth of stuff to tip top and defrosted or freezer,

Still lots more to do but will leave the rest for another week.

Hugs and good wishes to all in need of them

Need to go and do food we are starved!

wort

Can I just ask how many wheelie bins everyone has? We have 4.
Blue for paper and card
Brown for plastic and glass
Green for garden and food in compostable bags (which council ptovide)
Black is for everything else.:T

GreyQueen

Blimey, mrs-moneypenny, wherever did you get all that Stuff.; been clearing out sheds and garages? Excellent work. Hope you all have a restorative lunch and a bit of a sit-down this afternoon, you've earned it.

I shall now disappear up to the allotment and worry some weeds out of the soil. I have been capturing wire worms (speedy little devils they are, too) and putting them in a dish on my bird table up there. I call it organic pest control. That'll teach 'em to tunnel my potatoes............:mad:

greent

wort wrote: »

Can I just ask how many wheelie bins everyone has? We have 4.
Blue for paper and card
Brown for plastic and glass
Green for garden and food in compostable bags (which council ptovide)
Black is for everything else.:T

We have 2 wheelie bins - black for non-recyclable rubbish and green for garden rubbish. We have to pay for the green bin service - £36pa. Green bin and black bin are collected on alternate weeks, so both therefore run on a fortnightly collection basis (with which I have no problem whatsoever) We also have green boxes. You can have 1 or 2 as standard. These can have batteries, cardboard (thin only- NOt corrugated), paper, plastic bottles, tins, glass and tetrapacks. I use 1 for paper/ card and the other for mixed of all the rest. These are collected weekly. We also have teeny brown bins for food waste, which are collected weekly. The council do not provide bags for these. Cardboard needs to be taken to the recycling centre ( aka the tip ) or somewhere like Tesco where they often have cardboard recycling containers.