MoneySaving Poll: Do you agree with the 5p charge for carrier bags?

sgun

There's a right load of idiots out there! That's all I can say. 5p. Or take your own. Get over it.

Nick_C

sgun wrote: »

There's a right load of idiots out there! That's all I can say. 5p. Or take your own. Get over it.

Using abuse in place of reasoned argument signifies neither education nor intellect.

SuperMonkey200

The whole "plastic bags are evil" thing is a misconstruction.
"Australian researchers, commissioned to produce a report on the effect of plastic bags, misquoted a 1980s report on deaths of ocean animals off Newfoundland. The original report covered deaths due to abandoned fishing gear and the like, saying that between 1981 and 1984, more than 100,000 marine animals, and a million birds, were killed by discarded nets.

However, the Australian researchers somehow turned that into plastic bags."

The Times quoted Lord Taverne, the chairman of Sense about Science, condemning the government for jumping on the anti-plastic bag bandwagon without evidence. “This is one of many examples where you get bad science leading to bad decisions which are counter-productive. Attacking plastic bags makes people feel good but it doesn’t achieve anything.”


Plastic bags are not evil. They don't take two billion years to degrade like Nick Clegg (remember him) said - that myth was busted on BBC Radio 4's "More or less" programme.

Paper bags are not evil either, but we get charged for those too.

The whole damn thing is just another irritant, another misery heaped on "hard working people" such as you and me. Everywhere I go, I have to carry a load of bags with me, like some kind of tramp, just in case I might spontaneously buy something. It's a right pain.

I am inconvenienced by this every day of my life. Meanwhile, the Chinese are building another coal fired power station every six weeks.

I used to put my rubbish in the carrier bags that I used to get from shops. Now I have to buy plastic bags to put my rubbish in - so the number of plastic bags I consume remains the same.

Furthermore, the flawed logic behind this scam is that plastic bags are used only once. Well like hell they are. They are actually damn useful - you can put your wet swimming trunks in them, pick up dog turds, all kinds of things.

Thing of the retailers. Every shop in the land now has the additional burden of administering this stealth tax. Every little mom & pop shop, every chippy now has to keep records.

Talking of takeaways, you used to get a free plastic bag with your Chinese. When you'd finished eating out of the carton, you could tie the cartoon in the bag, thus avoiding stinking your car out and spilling MSG all over the seat. Not any more.

It's for charity, they say. The five pence goes to charity. Oh, so that's all right then. Which charity? The Association for the Care and Resettlement of Rapists? Distressed Air Hostesses? Nobody knows. A donation is voluntary - a non voluntary donation is a TAX.

I am damned if I am ever going to pay five sodding pence for a bag which costs a minute fraction of a penny to make.

A plastic bag from a shop is also kind of proof of purchase. At the till the cashier tried to charge me for an item I'd bought previously in another shop, because... it wasn't in a bag. So I had to explain I'd bought it elsewhere, and he had to say "Oh, sorry mate" and look all sheepish and it was entirely unnecessary and cashiers must be doing this all day every day of their already soulless lives.

Bags can be nice bags. Ever splashed out on some lingerie? They put it in a beautiful bag with bits of tissue paper and little perfume samples. Not anymore love, just chuck your beautiful expensive things in with your spuds in your crappy bag for life.

So, in short: an utterly idiotic stealth tax which will have a massive negative impact on everyone's lives for no reason other than some power-crazed mooncalf decided it was a good idea based on no valid scientific basis.

globetraveller

I don't mind the 5p charge but I do object to the 40p charge per home grocery tesco shop. They are saying that an average shop uses 8 bag- but that is because of their packers.i am fed up with half full bags. If I had packed them I would use a lot less bags. I don't want the delivery man ( and in the years i have been using home delivery it has always been a man)spending ages unloading every single item. Why can't they use recycled bags and we hand back the same amount of bags? Isn't that more in the spirit of things?

groovygav

marich wrote: »

To put a cat amongst these pigeons - by the way this vote has gone you can see the difference in social responsibility between the various 'kingdoms' .

I think it shows more the difference between perception (where this is a new charge) and reality (where people are used to it).

Daisy_Bell

I have always used my plastic carrier bags as pedal bin liners. From October, I am going to have to buy bin liners. I think this charge is penalising people who have always re-used their plastic bags in one way or another.
However, having said that, I rememember years ago people always used real shopping bags and shops used to charge about 3d. (old pennies) for a (usually) paper carrier. The only time you'd need to buy one would be if you had bought something on impulse and hadn't got your shopping bag with you. I think 5p. for these flimsy plastic things they provide in shops these days is far too much!

no1catman

I notice the 'disagree' is smaller in the areas that have the charging policy in place, it's therefore only in England where it's a step into the unknown where they are against it!

woolythoughts

I'd be happier with the charge if:

1. the bags were decent quality

but more importantly:

2. They were plain with no logos

I don't see why I should have to pay for the privilege of advertising the shop.

Murphybear

I usually take my own bags, I have accumulated a number of jute and cotton bags from food/craft fairs over the last few years. I always take a cool bag for fresh/frozen items. Most supermarket bags are very flimsy and not always fit for purpose.

I think supermarket bags should be charged for, at least 10 p but they should be much better quality so can be reused more frequently.

royl

When this scheme was originally discussed, I was under the impression it applied to plastic bags and a 5p charge is acceptable when you consider the environmental damage caused by them. Now the scheme has been implemented here in Scotland it applies to all bags, not just carrier bags but ALL bags. Paper bags, large, small & carriers. Why paper bags..? They go straight into the recycle bin. You go to buy a birthday card and it's 5p for the little paper bag, order a take away and 5p extra for the carrier. It is now another retail racket and prove to me that the millions of 5p's go to charity.