Carrier Bag Poll

[tufftie]

Originally Posted by Jez

I can't see why we can't get recycled paper shopping bags not too disimilar to the ones that the yanks use for the shopping- far far kinder on the enviroment!!!!!

This dosen't sound good - excuse the cynic in me but something to do with revenue perhaps?!

[tufftie]

Sorry, I worded that last post very badly what I meant was that while I whole heartedly agree with what Jez says in the quote - the reason we can't is to do with government and revenue...which was where the cynic bit came in

[No.9 Spider]

We bought some really nice carrier bags in a supermarket in France about two years ago and are still using them. If we have a home delivery from the supermarket, we ask the delivery man to wait and return all the plastic carrier bags to him. We hate the bloody things!
We always recycle everything possible, and as we run a guest house it is often a big chore and often so inconvenient - cardboard, cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles, drinks cartons. It is frightening just how much accumulates so quickly and a pain to visit the recycling so often to avoid running out of storage space - how I hate recycling!
I just hope it really does get recycled eventually!



No.9 Spider

[Paul mabbott]

Is it just places that I visit but is there much more plastic litter about this winter-spring than usual? Some places are always a mess but I'm seeing litter where I don't usually notice it. Could this have something to do with the high winds over the last year?

Motorways and other trunk roads are a major location - travelling over Rainham Marshes last week (on a train) there was a clear mass of plastic all along the edge of the main Southend Road - clearly just motorists throwing their rubbish out the window.

Seems to be turning up in the sea as well:
http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/hong-kong/science/wildlife-under-threat-from-record-beach-litter-$1218176.htm

[Cheryl]

I can remember when there was a charge for carrier bagsat some stores !!!!! I now always take my own. I try to buy veg and fruit from a greengrocer in town but if I have to buy from a supermarket it makes me mad when I've put it loose on a conveyer and the cashier immediately gets out a plastic bag to put it in!!!!

I'm a manic recycler too No 9 spider !!!!!

[Ipso Facto]

Yes we should pay something realistic to help prevent the use and discard habit. We almost have as many "bags for life" as we did disposables because we buy a new one every time we forget to take one with us. However, there is a downside. Since we have been avaoiding using disposable bags and our supply has dried up we are having to buy plastic bags for the disposal of doggy doos - but I have to admit that they are a bit smaller.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by Jez

I can't see why we can't get recycled paper shopping bags not too disimilar to the ones that the yanks use for the shopping- far far kinder on the enviroment!!!!!

But would they actually be better? Is there enough paper being sent for recycling to meet the demand? Otherwise, Where would the woodland be grown and harvested? Is this existing woodland or would other habitats be used to create new woodland - what habitats? Where would the paper - recycled or not - be made? Where would the bags be made? They're much heavier than plastic bags so they will require additional transport for every part of the journies they are involved in...

Plastic bags are light and made as i understand using waste products from the oil industry and they take less energy to be recycled that paper I believe. Although when thrown away they may just sit in landfil but by the same token can be mined back out agan in the future if we need them....

I'm really not sure that the plastic bags are clearly the lesser of two evils - its the disposal methods that need looking into. and actually not just of plastic bags - what seems key to me is that we are letting too much refuse of all kinds into the countryside around us and the marine environment.

[Paul mabbott]

There was an interesting article in the Guardian this week about Modbury - the "first European community to give up plastic bags"!
Hannah Pool visits Modbury the first town in Europe to ban plastic bags | Environment | The Guardian

Interesting the load of stick that they've taken - sure a small West Country town doesn't compare to Manchester or Dusseldorf but where's the harm in trying?

They have always made clear that plastic bags were just the first stage and many of them (shoppers and shopkeepers) have moved on to other, indeed bigger, matters. But the piece also shows up some of the problems. For instance, they're trying to persuade bottled water companies to use glass bottles. There are safety problems there but also, of course, the fact that anything in glass uses much more in transport fuel expenditure than things marketed in plastic. Much more useful, probably, would be to encourage people to drink the water out of their taps ---- but I say that as someone living in Yorkshire, not London!

[andyc123]

If it helps to cut down on the numbers being produced and harming wildlife then defiantely yes!