Paying for carrier bags.

If you pay good money for a cashmere jumper, surely 5p for a carrier bag is neither here nor there.

Sorry to be still discussing carrier bags.

If you went in Marks and Sparks and paid good money for, say, a cashmere jumper, would they really expect you to stuff it in with your grocery shopping if you felt it unfair to have to pay for a bag? Can we request they at least wrap it in some clean paper for us? Where would the simple politeness towards, and caring for, customers be in that?

Seems so odd.

I wasn't condoning it, granjura, just stating the facts. We all know it wasn't the norm in earlier years, but disposable nappies have made it easier for some parents to delay toilet training and so the landfill problem is made greater.

I'm not sure what your point is. I was just saying that what's happening where you live isn't happening here.

and you think it is normal to start school, at 4, wearing nappies (unless in extreme cases of special needs). No child did so in the 50s or 60s or 70s or maybe even 80s- so why not? Children are no different now, are they? But disposable nappies are just too easy and too comfortable. They are hugely polluting both in production and disposal, and take up huge land space.

Another decade and there will be NO landfill space left- so what then? There is absolutely NO reason for children to be in nappies till the age of 3, never mind 4. And they can wear shaped washable nappies anyhow- no need for disposables. Many towns also have delivery, pick-up, wash and delivery services, which are very reasonable if people would prefer not to wash their own.

Fortnightly bin collection and separate boxes for other disposables may have cut some landfill waste, but if councils go ahead with the proposed monthly bin collection there will be a huge rise in fly-tipping and illegal disposal of waste.

Simply cutting services (for which we pay council tax) doesn't solve the problem. And many children start school wearing disposable nappies in this country, so all may be fine and dandy where you live, granjura, but the system doesn't work that way here.

New shaped washable nappies with a cover and liner- are not at all the same as the old terry nappies we had to use. thank goodness! Much easier, the poo is got rid off into wc- and with modern washing machines, the energy and water use is much much less. The amount of water and chemicals used in the production of disposable nappies is massive and very polluting. Your figures are totally out of date.

It has also encouraged parents to try and potty train earlier- as we used to pre- disposables, which are so easy and so convenient- that many kids are not potty/toilet trained until about 1 year or more later on average nowadays. The figures are staggering- those nappies are full of a special absorbent gel which weighs a ton- but more importantly is so polluting. It's not as bad where I live as they are all incinerated- in the UK they all go into landfill.

Landfill is leaving a massive pollution legacy for the next generations and using up so much valuable landspace which will take centuries to recover, if ever. And the UK is due to run out of landfill space very soon- what then? Pray tell. Our grandchildren will NOT thank us for that legacy, that is for sure.

Is it really necessary for supermarkets to put already packaged meat in another plastic bag?

In the good old days we could take meat home from the butcher wrapped in paper and it didn't leak all over the place.

granjura "Waste has been hugely cut, especially disposable nappies!"
How? Have babies cut down on weeing and pooing?
Some people think the amount of water and cleaning products/energy used to clean and disinfect towelling nappies is more damaging than disposables.
I do recycle and compost.
And I reused plastic bags-for rubbish. (How did the BBC calculate 1 in 200?)
I also never put fresh fruit/veg in plastic bags when I buy it. It goes into my shopping basket and then into the bag once it has been weighed

Since the system changed where I live, 3 years ago- once people had stopped complaining- they started to think, and act- and it works. Waste has been hugely cut, especially disposable nappies!

NO collection and all the waste has to be paid by weight- certainly does concentrate the mind. Polluter pays- and as we are very careful with limiting packaging and recycling + composting- our bill has been reduced by more than half. Hurrah.

perhaps having to buy bin bags will eventually have an effect on shopping behaviour, and encouraging people to avoid all the totally un-necessary packaging- and cut down on waste all round? Now that would be great- wouldn't it? Buy apples, fruit and veg loose, in paper bags, perhaps, etc, etc, etc. The sum totaly of billions of small efforts add up to trillions of m3 of waste- who can argue against that?

I still think it is a con trick to make people buy more bin liners and rubbish bags. I always used a carrier bag in my kitchen bin and had one in each wastepaper basket, now I will have to buy a roll of bags.

We in Scotland pay for all bags apart from the chemist shops and the butchers. I do not know what all the fuss is about as it is just second nature here now to always carry spare bag. In Scotland the revenue collected from paying for any bags goes to charity .

About 9 billion plastic bags are used yearly in the UK... and around the world, a few facts:

• Over 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year worldwide (Earth Policy Institute). Consider China, a country of 1.3 billion, which consumes 3 billion plastic bags daily, according to China Trade News.
• About 2 million plastic bags are used every minute around the world (Earth Policy Institute).
• Approximately 32 million tons of plastic waste are generated annually, representing 12.7% of total municipal solid waste (Environmental Protection Agency).
• Only 1 in 200 plastic bags in the UK are recycled (BBC).
• The average American family takes home 1,500 plastic bags a year (Natural Resources Defense Council).
• Americans use and throw away 100 billion plastic bags every year, which requires 12 million barrels of oil per year to manufacture. (The Wall Street Journal).

merlotgran according to the BBC news just now , if a store has under 250 employees they don't have to charge for bags. That would apply to village small shops unless they are part of a national chain.

For the past couple of years our village shop has had a sign on the door asking customers to donate their carrier bags so they can recycle them as they are reluctant to encourage people to use new ones.

Very commendable but.....today there's a sign inside the shop saying they are now going to charge 5p per bag!

The news is full of England having to pay 5p for bags!!! As you know here in Scotland we have had this law for a while now and it is really not a big problem!!

Unwrapped food still gets put into little thin bags and you soon get used to having bags in the car at all times. I have a couple of nylon bags that fold up really small and fit in my handbag.

The only time I feel it strange is when buying clothes and not getting a store bag.

MacDonalds charge for a paper bag (so its not just plastic ones), but if you don't buy one they still put the carton of fries in a small bag!

We didn't use free bags years ago, no reason not to use our own bags again.

Asda emailed me last week, re online shopping, to say that foodstuffs that really do need to be in a bag will still be put into a carrier bag, and that they won`t be charged for in those cases.

Why don't clothing stores go back to those paper carrier bags. I remember the ones with string handles, ouch! Yesterday, my DH had three or four customers who went off with a whole load of plastic carriers from the bottom of the checkout. I really do not believe some people. They'll probably forget to take them with them when they go shopping!

Bought some clothing from Cotton Traders today, but was ready with my own bag, I had a couple with me anyway, to buy some food items from M&S.The assistant seemed pleased not to have an angry comment.I think on the whole it's a good idea though.If you forget your bags ( which I often do) it will go to charity.

That's interesting Pittcity, thank you.

I do not begrudge 5p for a charity.

Loopylou for online groceries the bag charge is averaged out (Sainsburys are charging a flat 40p) I have no bags and the nice man carries the boxes into my kitchen and unloads on to the table.

As for other online purchases "a bag" is defined in the rules as being open, so sealed bags that come through the post or click and collect do not incur the charge.

That's a really nice bag.

Sainsburys are charging 5p for their bag for life, so in theory you'll pay once and that's it forever. Tesco's were giving theirs away free, one per customer, last Friday.
I've been using Italian shopping bags, big and seemingly indestructible, for the past 4 years, I keep them in the car so theoretically I always have them ready -- unless I go by bus or forget to take them in the store--

Lady in Sainsburys was telling me that one customer this morning refused to pay for a bag so made her husband carry all the individual items in his arms à la Hyacinth Bucket....
I was a little taken aback at no bag for new cream sweater but I'll learn!

What happens with online shopping, food or clothes or whatever? I know for Tesco I tick the 'no bags' box.