Paying for plastic

[anneed]

Pleased to see Scotland is introducing a 5p charge for plastic carrier bags and even more delighted to learn it is being introduced in England next year.

What do you think?

I always go armed with bags when food shopping and keep a spare carrier in my handbag (smug mode).

Will you take bags with you or pay the charge?

[oldbluefox]

We've been using our own bags for a long time now (even smugger). Maybe usage of the supermarket ones will decrease once people have to pay. It annoys me no end when I see people putting two or three items in a bag and taking another one. They don't even bother to fill them. Then you see empty ones blowing down the street.

I once rescued a lamb which had got its head stuck in one and its foot through the handle. What would have happened to it had we, or anybody else, not come along to rescue it, just because somebody was too idle to dispose of the bag properly.

The sooner they bring in charging the better in my book.

[david63]

One of the biggest culprits for "overusing" plastic bags are the supermarkets themselves . Have you seen how many bags they use when they do the shopping for you and deliver it?

[oldbluefox]

I wonder if they will still charge you for the bags they use or just dump your shopping on the doorstep with a fork lift?

[Quizzical Bob]

We always reuse ours as rubbish bags. Now it looks like we will have to buy them instead.

[Jan Rosser]

We've been paying for bags in Wales for a few years now and I always find it strange when I cross the border to be given a bag without paying for it - the exception being Marks and Spencer - well they have to make money somewhere don't they . I have a supply of bags in my car for supermarket shopping and small fold-up ones in my handbag for smaller items - its surprising how quickly you adapt to it.

[towny44]

We always take our own bags when we do a full shop, but I tend to forget when just popping in for a few extras, I guess I will soon start to remember once they initiate the charge.
However I don't believe that charging for bags is the solution to stopping their careless discard, none of our family would ever consider letting any rubbish litter the streets, but I doubt that charging will change the habits of those that do.

[Manoverboard]

We have a pile of those ' lifetime ' ones from Sainsbugs but we do not use them for carrying raw meat in due to the risk of cross contamination.

Nor do I expect to be charged for any bags that are provided by the store with our online purchases.

[Boris+]

I'm with MoB on the careful use/re-use (or not) depending on what bags were used for previously; and also his comment about paying for bags for shopping which is ordered online.

I don't like the idea of paying for bags - firstly they all mostly seem to use plastic bags. That is a decision made by the stores, and now it seems because the bags are made out of plastic we might have to pay for them. I don't like that - especially when the wretched things carry their advertising. I don't believe that they cost 5p each to manufacture, and I do believe that many of the ordinary plastic bags are not very strong (and they are see-through) - and on that basis I'm not happy to pay for them.

When I was little, shop keepers ALWAYS wrapped up the purchases - sometimes in bags, sometimes in brown paper tied with string. If I purchase something I jolly well expect a wrapped to be provided for my purchases - (a) to protect those purchases (b) to protect my clothing or my car from damage by the purchases (c) for privacy (d) for my convenience; and as I am pretty much certain that the cost of my purchases includes the cost of the purchase of the wrapping by the store, I don't expect to have to pay any more for the packaging.

I also re-use the wretched plastic bags for refuse use, and I simply won't be paying 5p for these cheap nasty plastic bags with their brand advertising on them.

Em

[david63]

we do not use them for carrying raw meat in due to the risk of cross contamination.

You mean to say that they do not wrap your meat - perhaps you should try Tesco where meat is wrapped.

[GillD46]

I am well used to reusing my plastic bags, have done so for many years - at least 15 years I'd say. Living in Wales, we have paid for them for a while now - or not in my case because I always have bags with me. My Tesco delivery has been without bags for several years too.

[Dancing Queen]

M&S have charged for them for a long time and I believe from next year so will Tesco.

I always have a couple of the bags for life in my handbag and when I am doing a Tesco shop I take quite a few with me, I really don't see the point in paying 5p for a plastic carrier bag when for 10p you can buy a bag for life, once purchased it is what it says it is and the supermarkets will renew it foc for life

[Manoverboard]

we do not use them for carrying raw meat in due to the risk of cross contamination.

You mean to say that they do not wrap your meat - perhaps you should try Tesco where meat is wrapped.

We do NOT buy meat in Tesco, wrapped or otherwise .... neighhhhh.

[Boris+]

Here's a silly thought - let's say that every store starts charging for plastic bags, firstly will they offer a 'free' method of wrapping which does not involve plastic (the cost of which is worked into the price of the product somehow)? Secondly, if a customer does not take a bag, is there then a decrease in the price reflecting the fact that a customer has not used a printed plastic carrier bag?

Em

[melsea]

As others have said M/S have been charging for ages. We have m/s reusable bags which we use every time we food shop. I wash them regularly too. I also carry one with me when I am doing other types of shopping and at most places they will ask do you do you require a bag, especially retail clothing etc, if an item is small enough I will put into my handbag & decline to have a bag. Aldi & lidl both charge for bags as they do not provide them persé, so I have to remember to take one with me.

[Andrea S]

Gosh, some people carry large handbags.

There are large freezer bags in the car for meat and frozen stuff as they can be washed out and 'for life' bags for most of the other shopping . A shopping trolley bag for laundry products and loo rolls.

When I go City Centre shopping I use the bags for newspapers etc as we only have 1 bin for general use .

[wolfie]

The charge is a very good idea; as mentioned by a previous poster we have had the 5p charge here for some time for normal carrier bags or 10p for a bag for life. Prior to that I used bags for life for every shop so I don't find any difference in my shopping habit.

However, we cannot use any old bag for our rubbish. It has to be in the proscribed bags, the recyclable bags are free but the bags for general waste and food waste have to be bought by us.

It very easy to get into the habit of reusing bags and I really can't see the problem with charging 5p for something which is, in reality, non essential, causes great damage to the environment due to the long rate of decomposition and does real harm to wildlife both on land and at sea. It's actually selfish, IMO, not to reuse plastic bags.

I keep a bag in my handbag for unexpected purchases, it zips up to the size of a handkerchief but opens up to take the equivalent load of one plastic carrier bag.

Here, the 5p raised by charging for carrier bags is donated to eco friendly projects. Many small shops have their favourite project advertised in the store.

[towny44]

If everyone refused to pay for the bags at the checkout and left the goods on the trolley if the shop refused to deduct the cost of the bags, what do you think the supermarkets would do???????????

[Delboy]

We normally take our own bags, and scan and pack as we shop. However there are occasions when we go out, not intending to shop, but may decide to call in on the way home, on these occasions we do not have our own bags with us, so use the shops plastic bags.

After we use them for lining our indoor rubbish bins, they then are put in the black general rubbish sack.

If you use the home delivery service, everything is packed in plastic bags and you finish up it seems with hundreds of bags, but at least when they make the next delivery, they ask if you have any plastic bags you want to get rid of. Be interesting to see what happens if they start charging, at the moment plastic bags in this area are free.

Our meat is normally purchased at the high street butcher, who puts it in a plastic bag, then we put it in our own bag.

When shopping at M/S, it means a deliberate trip into town, so we are prepared with our own bags. Except when clothes shopping then we use the M/S bags, was in Ipswich not local M/S last Saturday and no charge for the clothes bags, which are a green plastic.

[oldbluefox]

If everyone refused to pay for the bags at the checkout and left the goods on the trolley if the shop refused to deduct the cost of the bags, what do you think the supermarkets would do???????????

I presume once you have bought the goods it is the customer's responsibility how to get them home.

[Boris+]

Hi John,

That's a good point - I think that it might make time at the checkout shorter, because the purchases would be quickly put into the trolley (assuming that the customer had not brought bags with them), then the problem would be in the car park: more people taking trolleys right along to the car, taking longer to load stuff into the car.

At the end of the day, sadly, I don't think that the stores actually care what happens as long as the till bells ring.

Em

[oldbluefox]

We keep our big shopping bags for the supermarket in the boot of the car. It's no problem to take them out when we go into the store or unload them from the shopping trolley when we have finished.

OH always carries one of those light nylon bags which folds up to nothing and takes up little space in her handbag.

I don't see it is a problem and, at the moment, free shopping bags are not free. Someone has to pay for them somewhere along the line. And environmentally they are a disaster unless shops have invested in bio-degradable bags which are presumably more expensive than the others.

If you can't be bothered to take your own bags it seems reasonable to me to pay for the convenience of the supermarket providing them.

[david63]

What's all this checkout business? Move with the times, adopt the technology and use "Scan & shop" - take item off shelf, scan it, put it in [your own] bag - job done, simples

[oldbluefox]

What's all this checkout business? Move with the times, adopt the technology and use "Scan & shop" - take item off shelf, scan it, put it in [your own] bag - job done, simples

Scan and shop? We're still on brown paper bags up her tha knows!!!!

[towny44]

If everyone refused to pay for the bags at the checkout and left the goods on the trolley if the shop refused to deduct the cost of the bags, what do you think the supermarkets would do???????????

I presume once you have bought the goods it is the customer's responsibility how to get them home.

I did say "if everyone refused to pay", that is unless the cost of the bags is deducted. If not you walk away and leave the supermarket staff to deal with re-stacking your goods on the shelf.