Charging for carrier bags!

[mark19632]

It seems the shops are now jumping on the charge you 5p for a carrier bag band wagon, wekll wickes and M&S anyway.

Is it a) Good to see big business making an effort for the environment or b) Using the enviroment to make yet more money?

Personally I'm going with b.

If it's all in the name of then environment, why do they not just give just nice paper bags in the first place? Or like Ocardo, give you bags that degrade quicker?


I'm all for less waste and all that, but it's very annoying if you just randomly stop and want to grab a few bits ratehr than a planned shop. And 5p? That must be a 1000% markup on what they cost?

[TiG]

I say make them £1, then we'd definitely know its for the environment. As no-one will buy them, and as for charging other countries have been doing it for ages. South Africa always charged for plastic bags, nothing for paper.

TiG

[Funkstar]

Personally i think this is a good thing.

If supermarkets were to charge the actual amount the bag cost to manufacture then I doubt anyone would make a fuss and not take one. At 5p it mapes people stop and think for a second.

No carrier bag is far more environmentally friendly that a paper one or a biodegradable one, purely in the energy it takes to produce said bags.

[greencross]

No carrier bag is far more environmentally friendly that a paper one or a biodegradable one, purely in the energy it takes to produce said bags.

Excuse me, where did you get your facts from?

http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=7

[Stewart]

But who cares about 5p anyway? I'm not exactly the Sultan of Richpants Land but I wouldn't stop to pick up 5p in the street.

If 5p makes a difference in your life, you shouldn't be in the shop in the first place. You should be in Lidi, shoplifting beans.

[breezer]

Id say 'b' too. At first when it started id say it was done to help save the environment, but now with people jumping on the bandwagon as you say, its an easy way to make more money. Fair enough its only 5p, but over a year imagine how much that one store makes, and then with all the other stores nationwide combined.

Quite a bit id say.

[RoBe]

it does seem a bit like they are using it to make a profit, though i prefer sainsbury's take on the bags. You get points on you clubcard thing for each bag you use that you have brought and reused.

[breezer]

Same with tesco.

I work at Iceland, and we dont charge for bags or give points for refusing. Its a shame, we go through tonnes of bags!

[x2o]

Just another way for supermarkets to make more money and they can get away with it as the goverment backs it win win for them

Btw some supermarkets don't give out bags as of the 1st Sep so some upset people in front on the checkouts lol.

[Funkstar]

Perhaps my family is a little strange, but we have always kept carrier bags and re-used them on other trips to the supermarket. My mum has done this for as long as I can remember. I now do the same and try and keep a few in the car for when i go straight from work.

Excess bags are used for my kitchen rubbish (very little, about one bag a week when I'm at home) the rest that accumulate get bagged up and taken to Sainsbury's or Tesco and stuffed in their bag re-cycling bin.

I just with more bags and packaging was optional and recyclable

[ajbrun]

B - So long as they put any carrier back proceeds to some environmentally related cause.

Although they shouldn't be free anyway as people use stupid amounts and it's wasteful. After saying that, the supermarkets are sometimes just as bad when packing for other people. I've seen bags with one item in them, or even bags with items that already have handles in them, or even worse - bags within bags to make them "stronger"...

[kalniel]

Just another way for supermarkets to make more money and they can get away with it as the goverment backs it win win for them

So I presume you protest against this and always use your own bags right? If so, job done

[beanbandit]

Excuse me, where did you get your facts from?

http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=7

Nothing like quoting an up to date source. 1989. We've had 2 gulf wars, 4 prime ministers almost 2 recessions since that report.

(Source: 1989 Plastic Recycling Directory, Society of Plastics Industry.)

.Although they shouldn't be free anyway as people use stupid amounts and it's wasteful. After saying that, the supermarkets are sometimes just as bad when packing for other people. I've seen bags with one item in them, or even bags with items that already have handles in them, or even worse - bags within bags to make them "stronger"...

You get someone to pack your bags Lazy bugger

Id say 'b' too. At first when it started id say it was done to help save the environment, but now with people jumping on the bandwagon as you say, its an easy way to make more money. Fair enough its only 5p, but over a year imagine how much that one store makes, and then with all the other stores nationwide combined.

The idea is not for the store to make money out of plastic bags, its to encourage people to reuse their bags from previous visits. Charging for them makes perfect sense, it will make you think twice before dumping your old bags.

I'm with TiG on this one, they should be a £1 each. Me i use the Tesco/Sainsburys bag for life (10p sometimes free with promotions) and the Tesco hessian bags (or whatever they are for £1)

[x2o]

Should I start shouting tree huggers LMAO recycling don't work as it creates more co2 if the goverment continues to do this http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...ecycling.waste

[Lanky123]

Perhaps my family is a little strange, but we have always kept carrier bags and re-used them on other trips to the supermarket. My mum has done this for as long as I can remember. I now do the same and try and keep a few in the car for when i go straight from work.

You aren't the only one. Same here except my mum also makes a habit of reusing jiffy bags and normal envelopes too sometimes...can't say I go that far...

[Skii]

There is something that irks me about a supermarket charging me extra for bags when almost every product they sell is swathed in yards of polythene and plastic. Would the money charged for said bags be used to cut prices on the goods they sell...? yeah right.