Carrier Bag Poll

[Kirric]

it's a good idea (even though i've always reused my carrirer bags) but why should we stop there?- in Germany they've got a system where you pay a deposit on a bottle and if you return it for recycling you get money back- i think it's a brilliant system and am stunned that we're not using it here yet!
Also if half the package was used on our food it would be MUCH better for the enviroment- and cheaper. Plus you wouldn't get as annoyed cus opening stuff won't turn into pass the parcel!!!
K

[Dogwood]

Originally Posted by Kirric

it's a good idea (even though i've always reused my carrirer bags) but why should we stop there?- in Germany they've got a system where you pay a deposit on a bottle and if you return it for recycling you get money back- i think it's a brilliant system and am stunned that we're not using it here yet!
Also if half the package was used on our food it would be MUCH better for the enviroment- and cheaper. Plus you wouldn't get as annoyed cus opening stuff won't turn into pass the parcel!!!
K

Hi Kirric,

We used to have the system in this country where you paid a deposit on bottles and then got it back when you returned the bottles back to the shop. It was abandoned during the 1960's, I think, when the supermarkets started to open, they wanted to run with minimum staff, they didn't want to pay people to deal with returned bottles, there's no profit there! We youngsters used to make quite a bit of pocket money collecting used bottles together and then returning them to the shop.

[coasty]

We used to treble our pocket money picking up the empties of the beach and returning them....

[Gill Catton]

I think it can end up being uneconomic, the body shop used to let you re-fil your bottles and you'd get a discount or they'd re-cycle the empties but they stopped it (at least in the shop I worked at) because it was just costing too much money to run it....

[Paul mabbott]

This is a common argument although some shops manage to cope with refilling (our organic farm refills various Ecover products - I doubt that Ecover would do it!). The argument is that it costs more to wash etc bottles and jars than to make new ones from plastic. Which just shows that plastics should cost more ..... or that recycled material (glass, plastic, whatever) should get a tax reduction?

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

I think it can end up being uneconomic, the body shop used to let you re-fil your bottles and you'd get a discount or they'd re-cycle the empties but they stopped it (at least in the shop I worked at) because it was just costing too much money to run it....

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

This is a common argument although some shops manage to cope with refilling (our organic farm refills various Ecover products - I doubt that Ecover would do it!). The argument is that it costs more to wash etc bottles and jars than to make new ones from plastic. Which just shows that plastics should cost more ..... or that recycled material (glass, plastic, whatever) should get a tax reduction?

Yes possibly, though I think paper and glass takes more energy to recycle which is potentially why these things cost more, though as so much of our plastic gets shipped to china for re-cycling I'm not sure how that can be the case....

[Paul mabbott]

Looks as if M&S have been taking notice!
£1bn-profit M&S will charge shoppers 5p for every plastic bag | the Daily Mail

[coasty]

The supermarket chains in France dont issue plastic carriers but you can buy very strong and vert stylish reusable bags for 20p that are far better than any available here.. We have about 8 that we have boought over there. We have even had people asking where they can buy the trendy bags,,,
The ones from Champion and Intermarche chains are the best

[Paul mabbott]

Yes, the French banned them some years back.
Another good thing is that Waitrose will take their bags back for re-use which is better than recycling .....

Originally Posted by coasty

The supermarket chains in France dont issue plastic carriers but you can buy very strong and vert stylish reusable bags for 20p that are far better than any available here.. We have about 8 that we have boought over there. We have even had people asking where they can buy the trendy bags,,,
The ones from Champion and Intermarche chains are the best

[stripee]

It would be good if supermarkets didn't issue plastic bags at all. Or put their produce in plastic trays and film. In the 1950s there were no plastic bags how did people carry their grocery??? Did they all get diseases from people breathing on the bread or handling the apples? They used shopping bags and paper bags.Some countries ban plastic bags being brought into the country or used, parts of India, Sikkim for instance.
I'm trying to avoid supermarkets altogether, but it's not that easy!

[svenrufus]

Anyone see this?
Brighton Launches Bid To Ban Plastic Bags (from The Argus)
Brighton and Hove City Council backed a Green Party plan to limit Plastic Bags, but went even further and said they will work towards banning them in the City. Will be interesting to see how this works...

[almostnormal]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

I'm voting yes too,

I read an interesting article in New scientist that highlights that not all of what you believe to be true is as clear cut as you'd hoped, apparently paper based packaging takes more energy to make and recycle than plastic - I suppose tree plantation provide a habitat for wildlife while they are there but do we even use british trees? Or do we ship the paper or pulp in from abroad while plastic is made from oil off of our own shores......

I sometimes wonder if we'll be mining out the landfil in years to come in order to to reclaim the plastic and glass and metal......

Yes! We will...sorry this is an older post, but I've only just read the thread. stupid wireless. ahem, anyway. The landfill down the road from us has just gone from SITA to an Australian mining company who mine the landfill for anything that can be recycled, remade or sold, so bascially all the plastics, any metal goods, any glass etc, basically everything salvagable gets taken out and sold, reducing the landfill by up to 75%. wicked or what?

and yes, we should be charged for bags, and I think the way forward is the reusable hemp/jute bags that booths, asda, marks and spencers and wiatrose all do. they last longer, can be produced sustainable and you can fit more in them cos they are conveniently square!

[bee warrior]

Charge away I say! And dont mess around with 5p or 10p, £1 should do it. Charge £1 for plastic carriers-99p going to environmental causes and watch all the shoppers remember their carrier bags and very likely solve the problem overnight.

[juliejam]

I would vote yes ...

Today i went into my local charity shop and bought yet another pvc type reusable shopping bags...nice and colourful and extremely strong will out live a carrier bag any day ..and for just 50p not bad..the bags are getting thinner and thinner these days and with even paying for them they are still not worth it ...

Julie

[Paul mabbott]

Mmm ... there are plastics and plastics ... and pvc is one of the worst - lots of petrol use in the making, produces ozone-layer depleting chemicals, is absolutely non-biodegradable and has no real advantage for the customer over other plastics.

Look at the hessian bags (biodegradable) or use a rucksack or trolley-basket which should last for years.

Originally Posted by juliejam

I would vote yes ...

Today i went into my local charity shop and bought yet another pvc type reusable shopping bags...nice and colourful and extremely strong will out live a carrier bag any day ..and for just 50p not bad..the bags are getting thinner and thinner these days and with even paying for them they are still not worth it ...

Julie

[juliejam]

Made me feel that it wasn't such a good deal now..
Hopefully i will get it right next time..

julie

[PMG]

As a caravan and camper owner I reuse the free supermarket bags as waste bags while away....... but I like Rogers idea of the plastic boxes in the car and will be looking out for some more of those folding click-clack boxes which can live in the back of the car just for supermarket use.

I would like to stop using the supermarket too but haven't found a way around it - limited time for shopping and the convenience of nipping in at all hours (cos I work shifts) means I shop more often - get things that bit fresher maybe - don't have to plan meals so far in advance anymore etc. And Asda are upping the amount of Organic lines availalbe. As for the local Health shop - tho very friendly and helpful - also very expensive. If we had a farmers market I would attempt to get to that - but that hasn't arrived in Leigh yet........

Pauline

[richardkm]

I'm sorry if I reiterate what has already been said, but I've not got time at present to read all the posts on this thread.

We already pay for carrier bags in supermarkets. You don't really believe they give them away free do you?

I take my own reusable bags to the supermarket for my shopping, I hate the blasted supermarket bags cluttering up the place, and on those odd occasions when I have to use a supermarket bag, then it gets reused several times at home (as a rubbish bag in my office for instance) before finally being taken back to the supermarket and placed in their recycling bin.

My local Morrissons only have one small bin for recycling, and it's never overflowing, so what happens to all those bags that I see going out of their doors?

[KatRaven]

It's exactly the same with our local Morrisons - you never see it full.

I only go to the supermarket to get grocery items these days, in a bid to try and use them as least as possible.
I get the rest of the shopping from my local fruit and veg shop and the local butcher, which automatically cuts out those horrendous plastic trays that supermarkets use to package meat.

Incidentally, I think we should charge for carrier bags.
I think Bee Warrior has come up with the ideal solution - charging people as much as £1 would soon make them think twice, I know I would!

[Gelert]

Originally Posted by richardkm

My local Morrissons only have one small bin for recycling, and it's never overflowing, so what happens to all those bags that I see going out of their doors?

Well until I discovered a source of biodegradable poo bags, I used them to clear up after the dogs!

[Gelert]

Actually, another problem we've had round here since the nearest town has gone more or less carrier bag free is how to sort our recycling. Our recycling service asks us to serparate things by putting them into different carrier bags....how have other areas dealt with this? At the moment I am still supposed to put different coloured glass, paper, cardboard, tin etc in separate bags then into the recycling box.....

[Paul mabbott]

Not sure where you are nor why you would be asked to be putting things into carrier bags. There may be local arrangements but I can't see why you would put glass or metal into bags before dropping into dedicated bins. I could see (?) that separating biodegradable an non-biodegradable might be useful???

Originally Posted by Gelert

Actually, another problem we've had round here since the nearest town has gone more or less carrier bag free is how to sort our recycling. Our recycling service asks us to serparate things by putting them into different carrier bags....how have other areas dealt with this? At the moment I am still supposed to put different coloured glass, paper, cardboard, tin etc in separate bags then into the recycling box.....

[Gelert]

Sorry, I wasn't clear at all! We have a collection service and put recycling stuff in bags then into a crate which gets picked up from outside the house....

[Paul mabbott]

Seems over-complicated to me and, as you originally pointed out, means that you're adding plastics (to be burned presumably) to heaps of other materials .... sounds like the system was thought up by some bureaucrat who had no idea of the basic needs of recycling.

Can you not just throw your recycling directly into the crates?

Originally Posted by Gelert

Sorry, I wasn't clear at all! We have a collection service and put recycling stuff in bags then into a crate which gets picked up from outside the house....