I was horrified

As long as supermarkets provide the cheap bags people will 'forget' to bring their own. In France they stopped ages ago....there was no alternative....you HAD to bring your own and you got little sympathy if you had nothing (as holiday makers we quickly had to learn!).

Its not difficult to get into the habit of keeping a supply in the car.....you have to remember to take your handbag/purse so why not a few bags....oh its all so annoying to watch perfectly capable people load up in Morrisons with a trolley load of thin plastic bags...the staff just dole them out unquestioning.....sorry its a bit of a soap box thing for me!

It's the same in Wales.

Most shops in Scotland donate the 5p's to charity. If there isn't a sign to indicate the charity, I ask.

M&S hands it over to charity because it's not yet compulsory in England. I don't know what the situation is in the countries where it is compulsory.

Doesn't the money go to charity??

Its unlikely that retailers will encourage customers to re use bags so long as they can charge for them. If retailers had to pay they would be much more likely to switch to paper or biodegradable bags. Please note I'm only talking about non food use. I'm quite happy to bring my own food shopping bags -not for wet fish or raw meat though!

Yes, anno you are right. Photo not bio. But though apparently enough light gets to them in a cupboard for them to disintegrate. But not when they are hanging in hedges, trees and floating in lakes. Does anyone else remember when supermarkets used to have a pile of cardboard boxes at the checkout? We know how to recycle, older GN posters were brought up with it! Pigswill, salvage, returnable bottles. Lots of initiatives not being used.

I was also mortified as I was doing a largish shop and didn't have my usual stash of bags in the car with me. My excuse is that we have been moving DD and all her stuff and taken the bags and car seats out so I could put the seats down flat. I won't do that again.

When I was still working at Mystery Shoppers I used to get quite narked at how many of the younger members of staff would come back each lunchtime with new carrier bags, despite our boss having a "posting station" which meant that if you had forgotten your "bag for life" you could help yourself to a bag.

I think it irritated more because it was always the young ones that didn't bother, the older members of staff always seemed to use a recycled bag.

I suspect you are correct Ana just google plastic bags and there are so many ads for bulk purchasing.

www.facebook.com/laralovecow

I know the person who makes these out of plastic bags. They are lovely and I have bought a few for presents for friends' birthdays.

The guidelines are a bit hazy. For example, Bags for Life are included in 'bags you don't have to charge 5p for' but they cost about 10p anyway!

I expect the reason shops don't provide free paper carriers is that it would cost them more.

Although plastic carriers are called biodegradable, my information (unless it's out of date) is that they are only photodegradable, so if they're buried in landfill they won't degrade.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/2010-to-2015-government-policy-waste-and-recycling/2010-to-2015-government-policy-waste-and-recycling

www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/17/scotland-plastic-bag-usage-falls-after-5p-charge-introduced

Seems it is for 'single use' plastic bags.

Oh I though bio-degradable was OK! Will check it out!

I don't think even paper carriers are allowed, Penstemmon, although I may be wrong. I've certainly never come across any shop offering them.

and my medicines are usually in a paper bag when I collect them! Years ago Safeway always used the US style brown paper bags.

I have a load of bags in the boot of my car and one of those fold away nylon bags in my handbag...most of the time. I often forget them in the boot and then just reload the trolley and pack it up in the car park!

Jane10 but the point is to reduce plastic by encouraging retailers to find alternatives/encourage customers to use reusable: so paper carriers would be OK as long as they are not covered in that shiny glazed paper which is tricky to bio-degrade.

But they couldn't make an exception for clothes shops or shoe shops would be wanting one too, and costmetics and toiletry suppliers.

The only items exempt from the law are prescribed medicines.

My issue is that its a badly thought out law.

It's the law. Where this law applies the retailer I.e. Asda for example, is breaking the law if they provide a bag. As would be the posh dress shop. A big fine is applicable if reported by e.g. a mystery shopper.

I still take exception to paying for a carrier bag when buying clothes. I always take my own bag for food shopping but sometimes when you're paying large sums for clothes it really annoys me. The shops should bear that expense. Many use paper or card bags anyway. Recently I bought a posh outfit for a wedding -cost £350 +5p for a bag. The retailer was most apologetic. I suggested that they might find the 5p from their profits and the lady produced 5p and put it a charity tin. Seemed daft to me. Carrier still used. No reduction in packaging. No incentive to cut back on polythene.

I agree with loopylou about bags you get abroad. The problem with the free bags you get here is that they decided to make them biodegradable so they are very flimsy to start with and disintegrate almost immediately. Which is more environmentally friendly, a bag you can reuse or one that falls apart? And has anyone else had the experience of finding a pile of plastic confetti where there was a stash of bags?

I can understand sometimes forgetting to take a bag but, like Bez, I use the bags I got from an Italian supermarket 5 years ago. They seem to be indestructible and it's a pity British supermarkets don't sell them too. Their used for shopping, taken on holiday for shopping and beach! did DD's house move, a number of picnics etc and look like they'll go on forever

Great value for money, wipe clean and take up little space.

I think they do that, number because of the risk of cross contamination. If customers pack their shopping themselves then it's up to them, but the shop staff aren't allowed to put certain items in bags with other items. So raw meat, cooked meat, veg all in separate bags, household cleaning products etc in separate bag, medicines separate again and so on.

Sainsburys deliver with an amazing number of bags too. There are usually unused ones at the bottom of the box too.
I tip the stuff out and give the bags back to the driver.
Tesco will deliver without bags.

Another annoyance is when the checkout person puts items like meat and fish that are already in plastic in yet another bag. I don't put things with skins, like onions and bananas in bags either!

I always take my own bags when I go into town, or local shops, but when my order is delivered from Asda, I`m amazed at how many bags they use unnecessarily. They`ll put one pack of Ibuprofen into a bag on it`s own, or one body spray, stupid and wasteful.