Lack of publicity over England's shops charging 5p a bag

JReacher1

Nick_C wrote: »

My argument is that there are much bigger environmental problems than people getting free carrier bags from the supermarket, and the government has got its priorities wrong. Supermarket carrier bags make up less than 5% of household plastic packaging.

(It is estimated that nearly 1.2 million tonnes of plastics packaging are consumed by households in the UK http://www.recoup.org/news/7192/2013-uk-household-plastics-collection-survey and 58 thousand tonnes of single use carrier bags are given out by UK supermarkets. http://www.recoup.org/news/7192/2013-uk-household-plastics-collection-survey)

I don't think it is ridiculous to think about the carbon footprint of things you buy in the shop. Yes, it's better to grow your own carrots than it is to buy them from the supermarket, but if you are going to buy them in a shop you can try and buy ones that have been locally sourced.

The point with water of course is that you don't need to buy it from the shops at all when you can just turn on the tap, so I'm not sure that the comparison between water and carrots really gets us anywhere.

Back to bags, for those of us who use our supermarket carriers as bin liners, there is no environmental gain in using a "bag for life".

I will carry on putting the same amount of plastic in my residual waste bin as I do now. I will have to buy the bags instead of getting them for free.

You don't need to buy carrots from anywhere you can just grow them in your garden...,

In fact many items you don't "need" to buy. People just like to buy them. Some people prefer bottled water so they buy it. As long as they recycle the bottles it's not that much of an issue.

If you use the same amount of bags that is good. On the plus side the charities will benefit from this attitude so everyone wins

Bogof_Babe

Just had a dilemma here... our Council asks us to put our newspapers out for recycling "in a carrier bag" for them to collect. Now do I buy one specially? Hmmm... :rotfl:

System

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Just had a dilemma here... our Council asks us to put our newspapers out for recycling "in a carrier bag" for them to collect. Now do I buy one specially? Hmmm... :rotfl:

You can charge them 5p for the bag

Azari

!!!!!! wrote: »

You can charge them 5p for the bag

And if you employ more than 250 people you must charge them for a bag.

Poppy9

In Wales I have not seen anything that shows how much money had been donated to charity as a result of the 5p carrier bag charge.

System

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Just had a dilemma here... our Council asks us to put our newspapers out for recycling "in a carrier bag" for them to collect. Now do I buy one specially? Hmmm... :rotfl:

A link for you. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Medium-Candy-Stripe-Plastic-Carrier/dp/B006H40QA2/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1443507604&sr=8-6&keywords=carrier+bags

keep you going for just under 2 years or 4, if your collections are fortnightly

Bogof_Babe

ScarletMarble wrote: »

A link for you. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Medium-Candy-Stripe-Plastic-Carrier/dp/B006H40QA2/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1443507604&sr=8-6&keywords=carrier+bags

keep you going for just under 2 years or 4, if your collections are fortnightly

Or about five as I don't buy a daily paper and only occasionally pick up a Metro, so only put papers out about once a month!

bacono

My local Tescos were giving customers free 'bag for life' bags (usually about 50p?) out earlier this week, and explaining the upcoming 5p charge. A nice touch I thought.

System

bacono wrote: »

My local Tescos were giving customers free 'bag for life' bags (usually about 50p?) out earlier this week, and explaining the upcoming 5p charge. A nice touch I thought.

I wonder what % will actually bring that bag with them after Monday.

Tbf, Co-op card members have been issued with a free aqua colour tote bag and seen loads of these about.

Nick_C

Just got back from Morrison's. Posters at all the tills saying in large print "proceeds will be donated to good causes" and in very small print "at least 4p from the sale of every bag will be donated to good causes".