Carrier bags 5p

SeduLOUs

windup wrote: »

long ago, before bags were free, some supermarkets used to leave their empty boxes out for the punters to carry their stuff home.

They got rid of their waste with no effort, customers were able to get their shopping in the boot easily.

Hopefully the idea will return

I remember that! That was a while ago, I was a young 'un and used to get a box or two to make things out of after mum had put the shopping away!

theboylard

windup wrote: »

long ago, before bags were free, some supermarkets used to leave their empty boxes out for the punters to carry their stuff home.

They got rid of their waste with no effort, customers were able to get their shopping in the boot easily.

Hopefully the idea will return

Can't see the stores giving up over £1m a year minimum?!
Used to work for a supermarket chain in a distribution centre, with a poly and cardboard waste recycling operation on site.
For the 100 or so stores we serviced, we made, as one site out of 5, around £300k year.

[Deleted User]

Most if not all supermarkets have cardboard and plastic balers out the back where all the waste cardboard and plastic gets baled up and shipped out assuming it is sold on at a profit.

Do people really think they have a mountain of cardboard boxes 'oot the back just waiting for someone to ask for them. :rotfl:

EricMears

windup wrote: »

long ago, before bags were free, some supermarkets used to leave their empty boxes out for the punters to carry their stuff home.

They got rid of their waste with no effort, customers were able to get their shopping in the boot easily.

Hopefully the idea will return

I don't think that idea ever went away ! Certainly, most of the supermarkets that I frequent have a 'cage' beyond the tills area where shoppers can help themselves to a box or two.
But I also quite often pick up a box from (say) the fruit area where two almost empty boxes are on display so I shuffle contents around and liberate one of them.

KxMx

JuzaMum wrote: »

It's not just the disposal of carrier bags that is an enviromental problem. The production is too. I predict a rise in the sales of bin liners!

I broadly support the charge.

But like others will now be buying bin liners.

Will my overall plastic impact go down?

Unlikely in my view.

windup

theboylard wrote: »

Can't see the stores giving up over £1m a year

The customer experience at the till and beyond part of shopping has been neglected by the accountants far too much of late, rows of unmanned tills and long queues. pound for the trolley, labeling issues causing holdups whilst a manager comes to do a till override, forced use of self service tills after a certain time, car parking hassles, and now bag hassles. In a time when every supermarket wants to stand out, a simple assessment of the whole customer experience might find that ignoring the till experience is both inefficient and bad business. Fiddling about with plastic bags also takes time.

If money is the be all and end all, secrete 2p in cost of the weekly shop, and provide some free cardboard boxes if asked, it makes life easier for those who want them.

Homebase do it, it's refreshing to be asked if you'd like a box so the plant you've just bought doesn't fall over and deposit soil in the boot.

Deleted_User wrote: »

Most if not all supermarkets have cardboard and plastic balers out the back where all the waste cardboard and plastic gets baled up and shipped out assuming it is sold on at a profit.

Do people really think they have a mountain of cardboard boxes 'oot the back just waiting for someone to ask for them. :rotfl:

apparently you do, because that's exactly what your first paragraph says.

as I said originally, this was commonplace before free bags came about, though some health and safety official might poo poo the idea nowadays, the box area tended to be in the doorway, so you could put them in the trolley before you go shopping or pick them up on the way out

[Deleted User]

windup wrote: »

apparently you do, because that's exactly what your first paragraph says.

as I said originally, this was commonplace before free bags came about, though some health and safety official might poo poo the idea nowadays, the box area tended to be in the doorway, so you could put them in the trolley before you go shopping or pick them up on the way out

Think you got that wrong, the cardboard and plastic out the back is inside a baler flattened like a pancake. Not a pyramid of boxes ready to fall on top of you.

Yes some supermarkets will put some decent/banana boxes etc at the tills but these don't last all day especially when most stock replenishment goes on at night.

windup

then don't flatten them

it's not a complicated concept, you take the 15 tins of beans out of the box, dispose of the plastic wrapping, and put the box in the reception area next to the trolleys for the customers to use if they wish. they take the tin of beans and whatever else off the conveyor belt, and put them into the box in the trolley. they then put the box in the boot. no bag drama, no 5p, everything stays upright in the boot, the boxes can be reused or recycled.

[Deleted User]

windup wrote: »

then don't put it into the bailer.

it's not a complicated concept, you take the 15 tins of beans out of the box, dispose of the plastic wrapping, and put the box in the reception area next to the trolleys for the customers to use if they wish. they take the tin of beans and whatever else off the conveyor belt, and put them into the box in the trolley. they then put the box in the boot. no bag drama, no 5p, everything stays upright in the boot, the boxes can be reused or recycled.

Beans don't come in cardboard boxes. Most tins come on flat cardboard trays that are put directly onto the shelf. E.g shelf ready packaging.

Alter_ego

I've got a stock of various supemarket bags that I'm willing to sell at 3p each