The average household buys 54 bags for life every year.

Greeneyedgirl - I use the the local free weekly paper to line my little bin under the sink, but not a lot goes in there anyway. Egg shells, teabags, peelings etc go in the compost and skin/bones go in food bag waste.

I've been thinking about this and all I can say is that if the average per household is 54 bags, some people must be buying an awful lot of bags!!!! I've had a set of coloured Trolley Bags for many years, which we use for our weekly shop, and keep an old fashioned string bag in my handbag to use the rest of the time.

No one has yet answered my query about what they use in rubbish bins in the house.
Here we use plastic bags which are provided by the Council free of charge, different colours for different waste.

The recyclable waste (washed as necessary) goes into a dual bin without a bag, then emptied into the appropriate coloured bag outside before collection.

we always take our reusable shopping bags to put shopping in.

I've had the old " bag for life" bags for years and never had to buy a bag when I go to Asda for my big shop. They're all looking very sad now but so long as the handles are okay they'll still do me.

What happened to the paper carrier bags that we once used years ago ? All that was needed was reinforcement of them and thicker rope handles instead of those which dug into you.

I too was amazed at this headline. We've had the same can reusable cotton and canvas bags for years. We keep most in the boot of the car & a couple in the kitchen for when we walk to the shops.

I asked about kitchen bin liners because when I checked, although the sales of plastic shopping bags had gone down in England since charge applied, which is great news, plastic bin liner sales have gone up.

I also note that many biodegradable bags sold are not in fact truly biodegrade.

On thinking this through I have also found out that all our household waste in this area, ie that which cannot be recycled, goes to an incinerator, not landfill. Thus defeating the object of biodegradable

If the average is 54 there must be a lot of people buying a lot more than that, as doing a poll of my friends and family, none of us has bought a bag for life. We just use the fabric bags that we’ve had for years.

I wonder if men are the biggest culprits - we women tend to carry around a handbag or shoulder bag in which we can store several bags for when they are needed, whereas the average man doesn't, so is much more likely to need to purchase a bag at the check-out.

I hope I'm not repeating something that has already been said - I haven't had time to read all the posts.

The fabric bags that I take to the supermarket with me have been in use for years (and look like it), but will remain in weekly use until they give up the ghost, just like any plastic bags that I have.

I cant believe the average household buys 54 bags for life every year, where did that come from?
I have a few jute bags bought from the British Heart Foundation and from the Royal British Legion, they hold lots of things and seem to last for ever, at the same time helping a few charities.

As has been said, someone's buying a lot of bags. I've been using canvas bags and a few home-made ones for years.
A little warning about those handy-bags which can attach to your bag handle in a 'mini-bag.' A couple of times I've found that the bag itself has disappeared so now I keep a bag inside my handbag as it's safer.

I too am amazed at where these statistics come from. I bought two "Bags for Life" when Aldi first opened in Leeds. I am still using them. I also carry a fold up (fabric) bag in my handbag and in addition, have two net bags for bread or vegetables, in order to avoid having to take a plastic or paper bag from the supermarket. I have a number of other fabric tote bags at home, should I feel that I need or want to buy more than usual (Christmas Shopping, perhaps!). Should I ever forget to take a bag and buy something when out - I'd just carry it until I got to the car, or even the bus!

This is really shocking - and sadly, I am not surprised. When we do the rubbish/recycling at our apartment in the UK- the bins are full of rubbish in bags for life. It really upsets us- just don't get it, at all.

Nanny41, CBBL Figures for bags sold come from the supermarkets, number of households in the UK, available from government statistics near you. Divide A by B and the answer is 54. The explanation is that many households treat these bags like the old 'one-use' bags they replaced. They shope every day and buy a bag every day. They only cost 20p, I am told.

I think the answer is to charge £2 for them - £10 a week - That might make people think.

How many times have we been told that older people need to be taught how important it is to live in a way that is planet friendly? The more I see, the more the boot seems to be on the other foot.
Here is one reference www.independent.co.uk/life-style/supermarket-plastic-waste-environment-lidl-asda-aldi-sainsburys-a9220611.html but the story seems to have been in most newspapers today

We use the Jute bags that cab be bought in Supermarkets ...

The only way to reduce plastic bags is for companies to stop making them, then maybe people would either have to use paper or cloth

One moan my DH has about the cloth bags, and I do agree with him, is that some of them have longish handles, so that when they are full, they practically trail on the ground. The intention is probably to have them on your shoulder, but not always easy to carry like that if heavy.

Calendargirl, could you tie a knot in the handles?

PamelaJ1

Will have to get DH to refresh his knotting skills!

I’d suggest that it’s not those doing regular shopping but it’s the ‘creatures of the night’ that seem to exist on microwave meals, snacks and much alcohol. Go into any supermarket after 9pm and I guarantee nearly every customer will ask for a bag.

I keep my bags in the boot of my car ready for when I need one. Got quite a collection and would happily give some of mine away. My problem is I'm always forgetting my bags so have to go back to the car for them or wait until I pay and then bag them up at the car....I get very annoyed with myself??! Surely a helpful ideas would be a rather large sign at the entrance reminding us?!!
Like other I use my bags for all manner of things around the home.

creatures of the night?
I see plenty of oldies filling their trolleys with booze during the day to carry home in their jute bags.

When I come out of the pool with my wet towel, water shoes and swimming costume, I'm glad of my plastic bags.

When I buy a hangi (popular fundraiser here), no paper, bamboo or other container will do as the juice runs out if it's not in a sealable plastic box. Ditto any takeaway with liquid content.

Nor do any of the things in my pantry (flour, pulses, rice) survive in paper and I cannot afford glass.

I have multiple cloth bags used regularly and refuse paper bags from the supermarket as their use, now massive, kills precious trees

And how do you successfully re-use, multiple times, a paper bag, as I do with plastic?

The bags which hold my swim things were from seafood: fresh unshelled, live mussels, kept in iced, filtered water before sale and of course, dripping when packed.

Well washed, these bags are now ideal for my use. Just 3 bags, re-used every week this year.

When the supermarket put my things in paper bags, they were torn before they even got home; a criminal waste of resources.
Now I insisted on their re-using cardboard boxes from their warehouse stocks.

Yes, the eco-cost of manufacturing cloth bags, which often have some polymer content for durabilty, is contentious.

So when we are considering eco-sense (and NZ is possibly one of the more eco-minded countries) it has to be tempered with a little common sense.