5p bag charge - your views

Yolina

fuzzgun19 wrote: »

The 5p charge should be going to charity, but is it?

Well, what's left of the 5p... the VAT goes to the Treasury and the companies can deduct the costs of administering the scheme and staff training and god knows what else. So probably not much left.

ScarletMarble wrote: »

I turn the bag inside out, get one clean sheet of kitchen towel, wet it with a bit of WUL. Then spray with anti bacterial spray, wipe off with a clean sheet of paper towel. Then hung the bag on those clippy trouser hangers in airing cupboard to finish off drying and its dry after an hour.

:eek: That's far more than I did :rotfl: and way too much hassle to do every single time. The ebay bags work out at less than 2p a bag, so probably cheaper than 2 sheets of paper towel, WUL and antic bac spray... Other option of course is to grab a couple of extra free veg bags and using these to put the meat in

Nick_C

fuzzgun19 wrote: »

The 5p charge should be going to charity, but is it?

Deleted_User wrote: »

Only on the <70 micron bags that they previously gave away for free before the bag charge law.

I doubt the EPOS knows if they charged you 5p for a meat bag and 5p for a non-meat bag. It will just see 2x5p bags sold and add to the charity total accordingly.

They don't have to give it to charity if the bag is >70 micron and therefore will have a different barcode/button on the EPOS.

The retailers don't have to give the money to "charity" at all. They are selling you a bag for 5p, including VAT. They can do what they like with the money (unless they are in Northern Ireland).

[Deleted User]

Nick_C wrote: »

The retailers don't have to give the money to "charity" at all. They are selling you a bag for 5p, including VAT. They can do what they like with the money (unless they are in Northern Ireland).

That's even better then. Frankly I don't care as I don't buy the crappy 5p bags.

And frankly I think it is a stupid idea that they have to, or should be bullied into giving it to charity as that is just implying that a 'free' bag is 'free'. They were never free, there has always been a cost involved that was passed onto the customer.

System

Yolina wrote: »

Well, what's left of the 5p... the VAT goes to the Treasury and the companies can deduct the costs of administering the scheme and staff training and god knows what else. So probably not much left.



:eek: That's far more than I did :rotfl: and way too much hassle to do every single time. The ebay bags work out at less than 2p a bag, so probably cheaper than 2 sheets of paper towel, WUL and antic bac spray...

I gave my friend the ebay link as her council instructs them to put any paper or cardboard,(flattened) into a carrier bag. Not providing a bag, box or bin to put them in, yet.

Kitchen roll was from Farmfoods, anti-bac spray Aldi and wul, Wilko - large Fairy Platinum c.850ml or £2

Yolina

Nick_C wrote: »

The retailers don't have to give the money to "charity" at all. They are selling you a bag for 5p, including VAT. They can do what they like with the money (unless they are in Northern Ireland).

Well, according to the official guidance, they are "expected" to donate to charity once they've deducted their costs

Yolina

Deleted_User wrote: »

They were never free, there has always been a cost involved that was passed onto the customer.

True. People who pay 5p for a bag are paying twice and those who don't pay 5p for a bag are paying anyway.
So, if shops spend less on plastic bags overall, when can we expect the savings to be passed on to the customers :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Yolina wrote: »

True. People who pay 5p for a bag are paying twice and those who don't pay 5p for a bag are paying anyway.
So, if shops spend less on plastic bags overall, when can we expect the savings to be passed on to the customers :rotfl:

No, just means they don't have to raise prices as fast.

Nick_C

Yolina wrote: »

Well, according to the official guidance, they are "expected" to donate to charity once they've deducted their costs

Actually, they are expected to donate the proceeds to "good causes". A "good cause" is not necessarily a charity. And it is merely an expectation. It has no force in law. Indeed, the primary legislation doesn't allow the government to specify what retailers are to do with the money.

But regardless of the guidance, my post was correcting the misconception that retailers have to give the proceeds to charity - they don't.

Yolina

Fair point Nick, though donations to registered charity are tax-deductible, which I guess is an incentive are general "good causes" tax-deductible? And no, I don't expect shops to do anything other than what's in their best interest.

A._Badger

Deleted_User wrote: »

No, just means they don't have to raise prices as fast.

But they shouldn't be raising prices at all, should they?

After all, the government (which cares so much it hurts) tells us that inflation is hovering around zero. And we all believe governments, don't we?

The actual cost of bags on a per customer basis was always negligible. Try calling a plastic carrier bag maker and asking for a quote for several million.

This was never about money. It was always a sop to the Green blob and a way of giving people who don't really want to dig into the facts behind waste management in the UK, feel virtuous.