Mrs

[Cinnamon]

Does anyone know,as we banning the use of plastic bags in the UK?

 

I was chatting to a customer about it last night & she thought it was imminent,but I am not sure

I would certainly like to be working where I do if this law does come to pass.

 

I get so cross at the amount of bags that are wasted - people packing one bottle of wine in 2 bags,a lady packing each & every item she bought in its own individual bag them putting them all into her rucksack,the couple who are obsessed (that is the only word for it) with the amount of bags they can nab from each till,& just taking them home without any shopping in them........................I could go on & on

 

I would LOVE to see a ban,so someone make my day & tell me that I will be dealing with some very disgruntled customers soon

[Lavenders_Blue]

I can't say I've heard anything about it, but like you Cinnamon, I will also be pleased if they are to be banned (or charged for) in supermarkets,.

[chickencam]

They are already charged nfor at 5p each in Wales, we have to remember to take our own when we go shopping there. We use large reusable bags from Tesco at home, so we just pack a few when we go away, they are pretty useful to pack stuff into anyway.

 

Ocassionally we do use carrier bag at the supermarket, because I use them to dispose of the waste from the cats' litter tray, I don't know what I would use otherwise.

[The Dogmother]

You could try the compostable dog waste bags - cheap as chips and not an environmental hazard.

[chickweed]

My local co-op scans items and puts them straight into a plastic bag before I have time to say that I've got my own. You would think that the Co-op would be more tuned in to environmental issues. I would fully support the ban on plastic bags as I think it will be the only way forward.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I'd love to see plastic bags banned. It drives me mad seeing how many people use unneccessarily in supermarkets .

 

DM, where do you get your compostable dog bags from? We always use the fruit and veg bags but like the idea of compostable ones .

[The Dogmother]

Just online or local pet shop, can't remember where I last got them from. A search will show up any number of outlets and they're not expensive.

[lillybettybabs]

I can understand people wanting them to be banned but i can see a downfall for retailers.

Less impulse buys and unplanned shopping trips would see a decrease at the tills

which is very important to the retail sector at the moment.

I think paying a small fee for a bag is a positive move and would make people think twice about

wasting them.

[Chortle Chook]

You could try the compostable dog waste bags - cheap as chips and not an environmental hazard.

I'm not sure how compostable these really are as the ones festooned in the hedges round here seem to stay there for quite some time

[Cinnamon]

I think it is about education.

People will have to get used to keeping bags on them - they have done before & it is just a case of getting used to it,rather like when we all had to start wearing seatbelts.

In no time at all it will be second nature to even the most reluctant of them.

I think that there will be a slight downfall in trading,but this will even out & retailers will also no longer be paying to manufacture bags too.

 

We have a man who comes in who is horribly arrogant & prides himself as being 'very not green' & gets his 2 young sons to say 'as many bags as possible please,cos we are not green' to the cashiers.

What a thing to instil into your children

Personally,I can't wait to serve him once the ban (if there is one???) comes in

[Charlottechicken]

Cinnamon is right, education is the key, along with us getting into the habit of carrying our own bags.

 

I have also seen the idiots who pack every single item in a different plastic bag Just today I was in 99p Stores, and everyone was tripping over a silly man just beyond the tills, who had picked a handful of bags and was busily wrapping each item he had bought in a separate bag. Just like one of Cinnamon's annoying customers, he then packed everything into a rucksack

 

Having said that, there's a fair few folk who do now carry their own bags, and my mum has been doing so since the 70's. I do as a lot of things I buy come from markets or charity shops.

 

A ban would be interesting, places where bans are already in force seem to be managing OK, I believe.

[craftyhunnypie]

You have to pay 5p per carrier bag here in Wales. It's been a valuable lesson in learning to take a big hessian bag stuffed with a load of reusable ' floppy' bags. I don't find it a problem - I find it a way of life now & soon got into the habit of taking my own bags. Anything that helps the environment has to be good! I hated it when I saw people using almost 1 carrier bag per item in the supermarkets! Stupid & wasteful!

Emma.x

[Lewis]

As others have said, we have to pay for bags in Wales, which is fine if you're planning on going shopping or to the supermarket 'cos just take bags for life with you but you can't just pop to the shops on the way home and use a bag...

 

Maybe its easier for women to carry a bag in their handbag but I wouldn't carry a bag for life in my pocket all the time, just in case!

Most of the time its just a couple of things so I just carry it rather than getting a bag.

 

You also have to pay for the paper bag if you go somewhere to get a sandwich or in McDonalds etc!

[Plum]

In my day we didn't have plastic bags.

[Bramble]

I think a charge of 5p or similar for the flimsy bags and a bit more for thicker bag for life type bags is the way forward. I have to go shopping after work tonight and have already realised I've forgotten my bags for life - no matter - as my punishment I will buy a couple of new ones!!! I'm quite sure customers would very quickly stop individually bagging everything then!

 

Be interested to know any recommendations for bio degradeable/compostable doggy bags - some are great - some, however, tend to start composting the minute they have anything inside them (one I used started dissolving in the rain, but I think that was meant to be a flushable one)! Maybe this is something for another thread though ...

[Space Chick]

The Wales 5p charge I think is brilliant... I always keep a folding shopping bag in my handbag, and I have some hessian shopping bags in the boot of my car too.

 

It really does make you more environmentally concious.

 

the charge came in on the 1st October last year, and so far I have only "bought" 1 bag, when I foolishly had not put my folding bag back in my handbag! Prior to the charge I would have had several carrier bags a week

 

The sooner they roll it out across the UK the better I think.

[Leicester_H]

99% of the time I use my own bags BUT occasionally I suddenly decide to buy some items and need a bag and so I wouldn't like them to be not available.

 

However, we could go to PAPER bags and charge, say, 10p - I'd be happy to pay on the odd occasions I don't have my bags with me. 10p isn't too much to pay but would deter people taking unlimited free plastic bags.

 

H

[The Dogmother]

I always have one of these in my bag - takes up next to no space some of the colours are lovely.

 

[PurpleTree]

As others have said bags are 5p in Wales. I've always got about 3 bags in various pockets of my handbag. Hubby finds it a bit more difficult, as Lewis said, he doesn't carry a handbag to put a carrier bag in, but then he only tends to pop into a shop for small things, so doesn't really bother him.

 

We've been caught out a few times going to the chip shop though, never think to take a carrier bag there & hubby refuses to pay

 

Trouble is the school still asks for the boys to send things in in carrier bags with their names on, eg packed lunch on a school trip & of course I never have any now. Had to find an alternative to put all the cat mess in when I clear up the garden, I now use nappy sacks.

 

Not heard about any ban coming in in England though.

[The Dogmother]

ANH, these are the dog bags I last bought

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Thanks, DM .

[Olly]

I also use carrier bags for cat-litter waste, I hate chucking them in the bin as I put very little in the 'general waste' bin, but can't see a way round it. Can I point out however that biodegradable bags will only degrade in an industrial composter - if you send them to landfill, they don't degrade because there is not enough water or air in landfill sites. So, sadly, you might as well be using carrier bags. I wish there was a 'greener' way to dispose of cat litter, but I haven't found one yet.

 

I love the Onya bags, Dogmother- keep promising myself a set of their veg bags, as I never wrap veg for weighing, I just stick the label on the stalk/skin/whatever.

[Plum]

I gave them up and use newspaper to wrap the cat litter. Works fine.

[Lavenders_Blue]

I always have one of these in my bag - takes up next to no space some of the colours are lovely.

 

 

I keep an Onya bag in may handbag too. They are fab, pack away really small and are so STRONG!

I also have a selection of jute bags too which I take to the supermarket, but the Onya is great for unplanned shopping trips.

[The Dogmother]

Ollie, I have those fruit/veg bags - great for using at the market.