Carrier Bag Poll #2

[Jez]

I know it's I again harping on about carrier bags but a lot of posts to my last poll has undeniably inspired me to start another!! This Time i'd like to ask the following....

[tufftie]

A small green back pack.

[Paul mabbott]

Problem: doesn't allow for multiple choice! Yesterday, for a modest amount of shopping, I used a ruchsack. Today, buying little, I shall take a hessian bag (bought in Brighton two years ago) mainly to carry my camera. When taking delivery from Waitrose have returnable plastic bags, when delivered from Tesco take the no bags option. If doing a big shop by car use a variety of shopping bags .... if available will use cardboard boxes for the bottles (and then compost them) ... so the answer is 'yes' - several times!

[Jez]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

Problem: doesn't allow for multiple choice!

Yep sorry Paul and to all! I realised that not long after I submitted the poll that a lot of people don't just use one type of bag.

[smartie]

I have a variety of hessian and other fabric bags that get used in different quantities depending on how much shopping. And the rucksack gets used if we're walking the 2 miles to the butchers.

[witham]

I have three black string bags which are great, they are a bit like the T.A.R.D.I.S and seem to expand, every time you think they're full they seem to be able to cope with a bit more, also what I like about them is that with them being 'open', you don't get watched like a shoplifter like you do in some shops if you take you own bags in

[stripee]

I voted other, because I normally use a shopping trolley or a proper shopping bag (but it's ancient and not hessian!). However, 3 shopping trolleys have collapsed and their wheels have capsized, so I'm not impressed! I need to find a heavy duty one reinforced for lots of shopping. Otherwise there's no point unless they are meant for putting in only small amounts of stuff for people unable to carry any

[tufftie]

Apologies if this came up in the first thread but as well as environmental issues carrier bags don't make good scrub decorations either. Went for a walk with a neighbour earlier today and the blackthorn and hawthorn scrub was adorned with torn plastic carrier bags - where the wind had blown them to. I wanted to take them down but the kids were restless (understatement) and there wasn't the time...might have to go back tomorrow and do it.

[stripee]

Getting a handle on the plastic problem | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Have just found this on the guardian, about plastic bag use in other countries.

[tufftie]

That makes an interesting read Stripee. I think the only way people will stop using plastic bags is if we stop manufacturing them - otherwise they're cheap, convenient and there and will continue to be used. i'm not sure that paper bags are the answer either - where litter is concerned - because the person that that isn't careful that way with a plastic bag isn't going to take any more care with a paper one.....okay it's biodegradable but..
It would be far cheaper and socially more acceptable to stop making them rather than implementing and enforcing the ban of them.

[pressld2]

Interesting news from M&S that they are going to start charging 5p per bag in their food halls from May... BBC NEWS | UK | M&S to charge 5p for carrier bags

Particularly interesting that they're focusing on the food hall bags which are very lightweight and not the heavy duty ones they use in the rest of the store.

There are a few things I'd like to either take issue with or highlight in that article:

Firstly, "they take an estimated 1,000 years to decay"? Is that really true? I mean for the flimsy supermarket bags not the heavy ones that M & S will not be charging for. I thought the modern flimsy carrier bag is both bio and photo-degradeable and will break down in months not years. They are also re-usable, recyclable and at least partially made from recycled materials (Sainsbury's claims 33%) all of which puts them on an equal footing with paper bags. The fact that they take vastly less energy to produce than paper bags puts them in front from an ecological viewpoint. (The fact that they are waterproof puts them in front from a practical viewpoint).

Secondly, "Ireland introduced a tax on plastic bags in 2002, which currently stands at 22 cents - about 17p - and led to a reduction in their use - but, according to the British Retail Consortium, sales of bin liners across the country subsequently rose." As someone who regularly re-uses bags as bin liners this doesn't surprise me in the least. There is absolutely no point in driving the supermarket plastic bag out of existence if all we do is use an equivalent number of bin liners instead.

Lastly, "Marks and Spencer has among the heaviest food packaging of major food retailers, and only 60% of it is recyclable, according to the Local Government Association. But Sir Stuart [Rose] told BBC Breakfast that 90% of the company's packaging would be recyclable if local authorities could get their act together and all have the same organisational structure in terms of what you can recycle." I have a small degree of sympathy with Sir Stuart on this. I do think that M & S over-package their food but would also agree that my council, while continuing to claim it is the best recycler in London, is still quite restrictive of what I can put in my bins, particularly the plastic and compostable waste bins.

Dave P.

[Jez]

If could get to that dangling carrier bag which has been hanging on the majestic oak high bows for over a year now, I'd be feeling so so good in myself! But if it is only months to break down i should have to look at the old and beautiful tree in pity too much longer.

[Gill Catton]

well I don't use a bag if I can help it. but mainly because I am incredibly forgetful I often end up using plastic carriers - but I don't actually believe they are evil - its what happens to them that's evil. I re-use all of them mainly to separate my recycling and they actually recycle plastic in my green box scheme so I hope the recycle the bags I put out too. I also use them for packing when I move - all my christmas decs are in plastic bags packed in boxes stuffed with bags - shock absorbant and dry.
Charging 5p is a good idea it might make me more likely to remember to take a bag - the problem is you see I rarely plan to go shopping its nearly always spur of the moment.....

[pressld2]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

well I don't use a bag if I can help it. but mainly because I am incredibly forgetful I often end up using plastic carriers - but I don't actually believe they are evil - its what happens to them that's evil.

I agree Gill. I use as few as possible, re-use them as much as possible in a variety of ways and finally recycle them. That way I suspect that they are as "Green" an option as most of the alternatives (although it is only a suspicion, I don't know it for a fact )

I also agree that they are a dreadful eyesore and dangerous to wildlife when blowing about the countryside and getting caught in trees and bushes. But to paraphrase the old NRA saying that guns don't kill people - people kill people, plastic bags don't litter - people litter.

Dave P.

[agrumpycow]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

well I don't use a bag if I can help it but I re-use all of them

Same here, they're either re-used to separate rubbish/recycling, used a doggy pooh-bags, or just taken back to the shop to either be used again or put into those bins for used carrier bags that are in so many supermarkets.

[Jez]

Originally Posted by pressld2

I agree Gill. I use as few as possible, re-use them as much as possible in a variety of ways and finally recycle them. That way I suspect that they are as "Green" an option as most of the alternatives (although it is only a suspicion, I don't know it for a fact )

I also agree that they are a dreadful eyesore and dangerous to wildlife when blowing about the countryside and getting caught in trees and bushes. But to paraphrase the old NRA saying that guns don't kill people - people kill people, plastic bags don't litter - people litter.

Dave P.

WISE TRUE WORDS INDEED

WHY IS IT THAT ENGLISH ARE SUCH DUMPSTERS? My mother drove to Chernobyl and could only compare the amount of litter we in england throw aside to the ones that give us breath

[WithNature]

I selected 'other' - i generally just put things straight into my rucksack, unless it's damp outside and i have nothing to sit on!

[witham]

Equally as dangerous to some animals and wildlife I think are the deflating balloons that can be found all over the place, why on earth to charities, school fetes, etc insist on sending thousands of the darn things up into the air each year, they have been known to kill cows and sheep when they eat them and get them stuck in their guts, so how many wild animals it's happened to goodness only knows, Cows and sheep are very inquisitive and if they see one in their field will often investigate and can end up in agony if they eat them. People have no control where they are going to land, we have picked a number of them up over the years and disposed of them

[Fishman]

I find it annoying that supermarkets always say they're trying to reduce the amount of plastic bags they use-eg Sainsbury's full page ad in last weeks newspapers-but they never train their staff on the tills to do so. I was in Sainsbury's yesterday and the woman in front of me only had 3 items. She had a big bag with her but while she was bending over it to get her purse the till person had scanned her items and put them in a plastic carrier bag (and put 2 of her items-meat already encased in plastic-into seperate, smaller plastic bags.) I had my own bag with me as well but the till person also started ramming my purchases into a plastic carrier as well.

[agrumpycow]

Originally Posted by Fishman

I find it annoying that supermarkets always say they're trying to reduce the amount of plastic bags they use-eg Sainsbury's full page ad in last weeks newspapers-but they never train their staff on the tills to do so. I was in Sainsbury's yesterday and the woman in front of me only had 3 items. She had a big bag with her but while she was bending over it to get her purse the till person had scanned her items and put them in a plastic carrier bag (and put 2 of her items-meat already encased in plastic-into seperate, smaller plastic bags.) I had my own bag with me as well but the till person also started ramming my purchases into a plastic carrier as well.

Totally agree with that. What I also irritating is the look of almost horror/disbelief on some of their faces when I produce the carrier bag I had last week that I have taken back to use again! It's as if it's dirty or something!

[Paul mabbott]

Even worse when they get into the sea .....
balloons

Originally Posted by witham

Equally as dangerous to some animals and wildlife I think are the deflating balloons that can be found all over the place, why on earth to charities, school fetes, etc insist on sending thousands of the darn things up into the air each year, they have been known to kill cows and sheep when they eat them and get them stuck in their guts, so how many wild animals it's happened to goodness only knows, Cows and sheep are very inquisitive and if they see one in their field will often investigate and can end up in agony if they eat them. People have no control where they are going to land, we have picked a number of them up over the years and disposed of them

[Stewy]

"Sainsbury's does not believe charging for plastic bags is the way to achieve lasting environmental benefits, the supermarket's chief executive has said."


BBC NEWS | UK | Sainsbury's rejects bag charging

[ron1863]

Why don't the Government make it legislation that all plastic carrier bags are biodegradable.
I feel that M&S charging for carrier bags is just another way to make money and nothing to do with the environment, though it is a good marketing ploy.