to think retailers have some responsibity?

It's not a question of 'subsidising' the retailer's provision of packaging.

The policy's supposed to be helping the environment, and most retailers will be donating any payment they get for bags to charity (as happens in Wales and N. Ireland - probably Scotland too now).

I really don't understand why so many people are getting their knickers in a twist about this.

Good post, FarNorth!

I'm surprised that apparently even if retailers were to use paper bags, for clothes for example, then that too is subject to the same policy charge.

Paper bags still involve a use of resources and energy in making them.

The idea is to cut down on that.

joelise Tesco deliver no-bag deliveries in great big blue plastic boxes and you take the groceries out and they take the box away. Simples!

I had to laugh though at the thought of the Tesco dot com person carrying armfuls of loose groceries up the stairs!

It drives me mad when I see people in Sainsburys putting a bunch of bananas into a plastic bag unless, of course they intend to eat the skins!

If they provided paper bags instead these are not subject to any new regulations - it is the shops themselves who won't go away from plastic and as usual us, the customer, who pay and increase their profits.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pictures+of+polythene+bags+destroying+our+oceans&biw=1024&bih=610&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=HkFKVJW3K-aX7QbgxoCIDA&ved=0CCAQsAQ

Perhaps taking a look at the link above will help people to think again?

I was amused but unsurprised to read this morning that there has been a massive upsurge in theft of the wire/plastic baskets at supermarkets. People are just not paying for plastic carriers at the checkout but taking the whole basket home! Supermarkets are now having to put (plastic) anti theft tags on the baskets. Apparently, after the bag charge came in in Wales, a Tesco in Denbighshire had 500 of its baskets stolen leaving them with only 16. Some were even put on EBay for £25 each!
The great British public will always find a way!

While buying a top in M&S today (Amazing I know - I actually found something wearable there!) I asked the chap on the checkout whether it was true they were charging for bags for clothes now. He was astounded and said of course not. He did point out that there is a barcode on the green bags for clothes, so perhaps they will be doing so soon.

October 2015 - as has been stated (many times!) before on this thread...

I have been re-using carrier bags for years. It's no problem to get used to doing that and if I have to pay 5p extra now & then when I am buying clothes or I need an extra carrier, I won't get upset about it.

Why would people buy supermarket baskets for £25?

As someone said Tesco home delivery offers a "no bag" option, it is easy enough to empty the boxes in the kitchen. Interestingly when they do use bags, they are paper ones, which are far better for the environment and are substantial enough to be used a few times.
(other stores may also offer the same service)

I have just finished crocheting a rather good sparlky red shopping bag to take out with me. I made it big enough to carry what a bag for life holds. I made a longish strap so that I can carry it over my shoulder. The advantage it has over a carrier bag is that it stretches and will probably hold more. Then the trouble will be carrying it.

'How to recognise a Gransnetter' is another thread!

Perhaps we can all crochet ourselves a sparkly red shopping bag (or perhaps hildajenniJ can set up a new business to make them for those of us who can't crochet!

I'm in NZ at the moment and have just bought some lovely handbag sized bags as presents. I've been using mine for sometime now. At home in the UK I use a shopping trolley with a couple of the long lasting supermarket bags.
I wish they would supply brown paper bags in the supermarkets for fruit and veg, as they do in the indoor market.
I remember as a child the heavy root veg would go at the bottom of the bag loose and other more delicate items at the top. That's still my favourite way of shopping on the market, I just wish I had a cool pantry to put the stuff in when I get home!

Ages ago I read that supermarkets in Germany had to provide containers for excess packaging so that shoppers could remove what they did not need. I'd love to be a bit bolshy and insist on removing such packaging at the till and leaving it for the supermarket to dispose of.

More recently, I've noticed that some 'fragile' white goods come packaged in formed cardboard rather than polystyrene. At least this stuff is biodegradable. I'm all for reducing the amount of rubbish that goes to landfill or abroad to China/India for landfill or re-cycling.

I have used biodegradable bin bags for years. I buy from Ethical Superstore who have lots of different ones.
Waitrose deliveries come in plastic bags made from 33% recycled material. You just save them until the next delivery and give them back again.

I always take my own for supermarket shops, but I don't see how it works for clothes when they must be absolutely clean. If it happens I think that I will take a delight in putting it in a bag for a rival company! I can't see it going down well! I also can't see how it works if you say that you won't have a bag and you will just take it on the hanger.

I think we have to remember that this is a law passed by politicians to protect the planet and we should not be rude to staff in shops. They are just trying to do a job and are probably not very well paid.

Many years ago our elderly neighbour would rinse out all her plastic bags for reuse and would have a line full blowing in the breeze. If I get a decent one I do the same. It's surprising - and worrying - how long a bag will last.

My DH simply cannot throw a bag away. Unless it has large holes in it or is filthy. He only threw away his Bag for Life (from I think Carrefore - the pattern had worn off) which we got on our last visit to France in the 1990s, a few weeks ago when it got a hole in the bottom.
Therefore we make a big effort not to get given plastic bags.

It is perfectly possible to take a clean bag or two with you for shopping. I have several thick cotton ones (magazine freebies) which go through the washing machine with no problem.

As a nation I think we've got lazy and, as has been proved in Wales and other countries, paying for bags saves a lot of waste.

Food for thought on your link Rosequartz. Good link.

You can take a Bag for Life back to the store if it gets a hole in and they will recycle it and give you a new one. I'm not sure about a Carrefour 20 year old one though - it could be a collector's item!

It wouldn't be a bag for life if you threw it away! I wait until mine are in a fairly bad state and then get it swapped.

I had to prise it away from him. He now keeps two Bags for Life from our local supermarket. They're just not as good though and he's had to swop them already!

The obvious answer for clothes would be for shops to go back to the paper carrier bags we used to have.

Last year I was sent 4 Jamie Oliver pasta bowls when I subscribed to his magazine. They arrived securely packed with lots of thick brown paper instead of the dreaded polystyrene. Everything went straight into the recycling. Why don't more people do this?

ANNA 18.05.
|How many times does it have to be said ?