Plastic bags in Delhi

[annes]

Interesting article in this weeks Economist on measures to cut down on pollution in Delhi. This is a good sample that evryone must do..

Delhi's campaign against plastic bags

[Wild-Woman]

Plastic carrier bags should be globally banned. I have seen some horrendous footage recently that shocked me to the core. These bags are a menace to all wildlife.

[Doggle Avaddit]

When I was in India, quite a few years ago now, the plastic bag problem was a bit different to the one we know.

We tend to go to supermarkets and do one big shop using several large plastic bags which end up in landfill. India has many more small shops and kiosks/roadside vendors, each of which puts everything in small thin plastic bags.

It is a problem of habit more than anything else. Everything comes with a thin plastic bag, most of which seem to end up ruining the countryside and beaches, since they get blown away by the wind and congregate in all those special places.

[poohbear]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

Plastic carrier bags should be globally banned. I have seen some horrendous footage recently that shocked me to the core. These bags are a menace to all wildlife.

Can somebody please tell me why our wonderful government doesn't ban the great God Tescos and the rest of the high street/market destroyers from handing out plastic bags. (I know some are trying to cut the numbers down)

Why they can't be made to swap over to recycled paper bags that will quickly rot if dumped, I don't know.Or maybe too many politicians have fingers in the supermarkets pie.

[Doggle Avaddit]

Originally Posted by poohbear

Can somebody please tell me why our wonderful government doesn't ban the great God Tescos and the rest of the high street/market destroyers from handing out plastic bags. (I know some are trying to cut the numbers down)

Why they can't be made to swap over to recycled paper bags that will quickly rot if dumped, I don't know.Or maybe too many politicians have fingers in the supermarkets pie.

Well to me the obvious solution is to charge quite a bit for the plastic bags.

What happens in this society is often what costs the least. If it is significantly cheaper to bring your own shopping bag to the supermarket, then for the majority that will eventually happen. The richer, who would rather spend the money on the bags and the convenience, could be, in paying over the odds for the bags, subsidising, to their delight, some scheme that will benefit all. Seems like a win/win/win situation to me.

But if you listen to the people that run the Supermarkets, they say "our customers demand that we provide free carrier bags, and we are in business to supply what the customer wants". Kind of a cop out really IMHO. What they really mean is that if they start charging for bags, someone else wont, and all their customers will go there instead.

The customers won't immediately see that if they bring their own bags it won't cost them anything, instead they see the supermarket charging exhorbitant prices for the bags instead. To change this mindset will take time.

The funny thing is, this is what people used to do, our mindsets have changed to this. Everyone would go shopping with their shopping bags or trolleys on wheels. Probably because there either were no plastic carrier bags or they were rubbish and would break on the way home, can't remember now!

[BloomingMarvellous]

It's a Form of Free Advertising and we're all part of that. The Quality of a general Super Market carrier bag Is made for one purpose only and that's to get your shopping home.

My Local Super Market Punches Holes Into It's carrier bags so you can't re-use them for Rubbish, which I think Is completely Rubbish. They Charge for the Bags that you can Recycle and Give Away the Non recycled Bags, what a load of old rubbish.

[poohbear]

If they want to give away convenience carrier bags and the public demand this...then make it paper bags only...they rot away in weeks not decades.
Why are government so terrified of the Tescos of this world...just say no more plastic bags...period. Self policing doesn't work...they just do what they want.

[Wild-Woman]

Years ago we were never given plastic carrier bags as handouts. We all went shopping with our own bags. If we got back to that situation, people would soon remember to take their own bag.
I can't see the problem.

[Hedera]

Hear, hear! The paper bags can be flattened and put in for recycling as well. You need some for collecting seed heads as plastic ones are not good.
My sister makes nice shopping bags out of curtain samples which are thrown out, they are attractive as well and the checkout girls ask where I get them from.

[Paul mabbott]

Yes, the use of plastics has turned upside down. When plastics were first used on a large scale in the 1950-60s teir selling point was that they were re-usable and ever-lasting - plastic bags don't tear or become soggy like paper bags, plastic containers are lighter and bouncier than glass ones, and so forth. But then, with cheap oil and production (anyone remember that? ) the big advantage was said to be that plastic goods didn't need washing, re-using &c - just burn them or dump them in a hole in the ground .. the only consideration was that industrial users made bigger profits.

Yes, the government should simply ban disposable goods of all kinds. The supermarkets won't do anything serious about reducing their use and the majority of members of the public will just take and throw as they've always done simply becuse they can't be botheredd to think a little in advance and take bags with them for shopping.