carrier bag charge for packaged raw meat

italiastar

suki1964 wrote: »

See post 4

See post 6

suki1964

italiastar wrote: »

See post 6

Which mentions nothing about the laws pertaining to charging of bags in England


ANY shop can charge you, some shops have no choice but to charge you

italiastar

suki1964 wrote: »

Which mentions nothing about the laws pertaining to charging of bags in England


ANY shop can charge you, some shops have no choice but to charge you

"The store actually said that they were charging because it was the law."

suki1964

italiastar wrote: »

"The store actually said that they were charging because it was the law."

And for that store, it may well be correct

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/carrier-bag-charges-retailers-responsibilities

italiastar

Ok thx to all that responded, much clearer now, even if a small chink of grey remains

d123

marliepanda wrote: »

Not required =/= must not.

The meat wasn't loose. It was packaged.

On the subject of Harrods, their bags are not single use. It's hardly them avoiding the law and not 'daring' to charge their customers, they just have better quality bags. Other stores not charging because they have paper bags include Lush, White Stuff, White Company, HotelChocolat and many more.

That doesn't matter, the law actually makes a distinction about unwrapped items for other products, if it only applied to unwrapped or loose meat it would say so. It simply states that uncooked meat is exempt.

You’re not required to charge for plastic bags that are for:

uncooked meat, poultry and their products
unwrapped food for animal or human consumption - eg chips, or food in containers that aren’t secure enough to prevent leakage during handling
unwrapped loose seeds

Italiastar, if I had been refused a bag for an exempt item I would be writing or emailing the head office of the supermarket. The ceoemail website has email details if you decide to do the same.

I would make a complaint about the duty manager lying to you (and claiming it was the law to pay for bags for uncooked meat is a lie) and requesting they compensate you so you can replace the cloth bag you then placed the meat into as it appeared to be capable of leaking and this could contaminate the bag. You will probably receive a voucher.

unholyangel

suki1964 wrote: »

Once again - was your meat LOOSE?

I think not

It was either on a polystyrene or plastic tray, covered in film, or put in a plastic bag, sealed at the top with tape

No way did the shop throw you a chicken or a pound of mince for you to put loose in your bag along with a loaf of bread, a pair of slippers and a fur coat


If you dont like the charges - TAKE MORE BAGS

simples

I get the feeling from your posts that you're saying because the items are packaged, they are not exempt. The exemption is for all uncooked meat/poultry/fish - providing the bag only has exempt products in it. If its being used to transport non-exempt items then its chargeable.

(e) Uncooked meat
food bag
A bag intended to be used solely to contain uncooked fish or fish
products, meat or meat products or poultry or poultry products.

I suspect you are perhaps misinterpreting this:

bags which only contain certain items, such as unwrapped food, raw meat and fish where there is a food safety risk, prescription medicines, uncovered blades, seeds, bulbs and flowers, or live fish

But unwrapped food is separate from uncooked meat. It has its own section in the legislation;

(a) Unwrapped food
bag
A bag intended to be used solely to contain wholly or partly unwrapped
food for human or animal consumption.

marliepanda

d123 wrote: »

That doesn't matter, the law actually makes a distinction about unwrapped items for other products, of it only applied to unwrapped meat it would say so. It simply states that unwrapped meat is exempt.



Italiastar, if I had been refused a bag for an exempt item I would be writing or emailing the head office of the supermarket. The ceoemail website has email details if you decide to do the same.

I would make a complaint about the duty manager lying to you (and claiming it was the law to pay for bags for uncooked meat is a lie) and requesting they compensate you so you can replace the cloth bag you then placed the meat into as it appeared to be capable of leaking and this could contaminate the bag. You will probably receive a voucher.

The meat was wrapped up. There are no 'exempt' items. No shop is required to give a free bag for meat that is in a package.

We only have the OP's word it was leaking (they say the bag was wet, that could be condensation from being refrigerated)

Mountain out of a molehill to write too shop over 5p that was legally charged!

d123

marliepanda wrote: »

The meat was wrapped up. There are no 'exempt' items. No shop is required to give a free bag for meat that is in a package.

We only have the OP's word it was leaking (they say the bag was wet, that could be condensation from being refrigerated)

Mountain out of a molehill to write too shop over 5p that was legally charged!

In terms of the 5p charge there are exempt items, I have quoted them in my post. If the shop charges 5p for an exempt item like raw meat it is not legally charged.

If you buy raw meat you cannot be charged the 5p bag tax for the bag, if the shop wishes to refuse you a bag they can, but they must not lie and say it is the law.

By the way, there is quite a lot written about the dangers of meat wrapped in plastic being carried in reusable bags.

For example:

We are not saying people shouldn’t adopt reusable shopping bags. What is important is that the public understand the health risks, and think about which bags they are using for which produce. For example, carrying fresh meat wrapped in plastic can have huge contamination risks if you then use the same bag for carrying cheese or bread.

http://www.aston.ac.uk/about/news/releases/2015/october-2015/reusing-plastic-bags-a-contamination-risk/

unholyangel

d123 wrote: »

In terms of the 5p charge there are exempt items, I have quoted them in my post.

If you buy raw meat you cannot be charged the 5p bag tax for the bag, if the shop wishes to refuse you a bag they can, but they cannot lie and say it is the law.

By the way, there is quite a lot written about the dangers of meat wrapped in plastic being carried in reusable bags.

For example:


http://www.aston.ac.uk/about/news/releases/2015/october-2015/reusing-plastic-bags-a-contamination-risk/

Its not that they can't charge, its that they don't have to. Although I do agree they shouldn't be telling people its the law.