Marks and Spencer to charge for carrier bags

[HEXUS]

M&S is doing its bit for the environment and announced today that customers at its stores will soon be charged 5p for carrier bags.

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[nichomach]

Well, they always were good at window-dressing...

Seriously, how about cutting down on the unnecessary packaging so that less of what they sell goes to landfill.

[kalniel]

Seriously, how about cutting down on the unnecessary packaging so that less of what they sell goes to landfill.

Exactly what I was going to say.

[Lord Midas]

Me too. Plus, our carrier bags don't get thrown away. We use ours in the kitchen bin and a bin liner. Once full, it gets knotted and throw in the big.
Rather than buy black bin bags/liners.
And we are big on recycling.

[beanbandit]

Me too. Plus, our carrier bags don't get thrown away. We use ours in the kitchen bin and a bin liner. Once full, it gets knotted and throw in the big.
Rather than buy black bin bags/liners.
And we are big on recycling.

Big on recycling, yet you use carrier bags for bin bags? You'd be better off using degradable bin bags as normal carrier bags take hundreds of years to degrade. Much better for the environment

I think that all supermarkets should be taxed if they continue using carrier bags. Carrier bags should just be banned, use biodegradable bags.

I also agree on the unnecessary packaging that we are all subjected to. Its starting to be a real joke.

[Funkstar]

The Scottish Co-op use biodegradable bags

I do the same with supermarket carriers. I do try and re-use them, but I often forget and end up with a surplus, so I re-use them as bin liners.

Actually I seem to think the new orange sainsbury's ones are biodegradable, they certainally aren't as strong as the old white ones or the normal Tesco ones.

[Saracen]

I'd be a lot more impressed if supermarkets (etc) returned to providing paper bags for things like fruit and veg, rather than plastic ones, and if they clamped down on the ridiculous over-packaging of many products, including many supermarket own-brand products.

But no, instead, let's charge the consumer a bit more. And if we dress it up as environmental concern and being "green", we'll get away with it.


Alright, I'm a bit of a cynic, but it seems that the only response these companies (and government) have ALWAYS involves either prices (or taxes) going up. Or both.

[TheAnimus]

the thing is, i generally use them as bin bags, or recycle them even as simple cable dividors.

But, i can't help but feal that a lot of the green lot are erm, moronicly stupid, who have no glimmer of understanding of human nature or 'problem space'. This is why:

there is one place i don't re-use my plastic bag from marcs & sparks. Work. If i get a drink or something on my way to work, i will get a plastic (have orange juice leak in one messeneger bag, means i now carry them seperately).

Now which is the bigger cost to the envirnoment, the carry bag, or the plastic bottle for my OJ. Now i'd bet that most of their business (70%+?) came from regular commuters, why not look instead at some form of recyclable bottle? Heck a glass one with a proper lid that they just dishwash, when you return it, you get £1 off.

But, just like 4x4 tax in the C. charge, this is champoined by morons, and just another pointless tax.

I'll leave you with this closing thought, when buying a product that costs upwards of £2 for a purely decidant luxury, are you going to really turn your nose up to a 'price rise' of 2.5%? No, you'll just buy the bag. Even if you saved the bag every day for a year, you'd only save £10, assuming the bag never broke, or became brittle.

[Funkstar]

there is also some consumer psychology though. Give people a discount of, say, 2p per bag they don't use and most will ignore it.

Charge an extra 2p per bag, and far more will take notice and not pay for them.

[Bluecube]

Interesting discussion but why is it under Cebit 2008?

[kopite]

When i`ve been to supermarkets in europe they all charge for carrier bags.

Are they only charging for the bags in the food hall or in the clothes sections as well?

[usxhe190]

This is a great tactic by M&S

Make money on a previous cost item without giving an alternative AND at the same time protraying an image of being environmentally concious.

unfortunately, i am not going to fall for that M&S. I will be taking my shopping elsewhere.

[Funkstar]

Isn't taking your own bag an alternative, or indeed, not using a bag at all?

[usxhe190]

yes you can argue it is an alternative but i have never been to a store that sells things that doesn't provide you with a bag to hold the stuff you just brought...

[Bleak]

I don't see this as a particularly bad thing, although it's not particularly practical. Especially when some of the bags you get these days are so thin and quite a lot of things need to be double bagged otherwise they just rip.

[beanbandit]

The Scottish Co-op use biodegradable bags

I do the same with supermarket carriers. I do try and re-use them, but I often forget and end up with a surplus, so I re-use them as bin liners.

Actually I seem to think the new orange sainsbury's ones are biodegradable, they certainally aren't as strong as the old white ones or the normal Tesco ones.

I too used to use carrier bags as bin liners, but after seeing how long they take to break down i decided that i'd rather do more for the environment.

Isn't taking your own bag an alternative, or indeed, not using a bag at all?

I try to take my own bags when i go shopping, sometimes i forget, so i've started to leave some in the car at all times. What i'd like to see is more shops not providing bags, but providing reusable boxes. Sainsburys did this a few years ago, Waitrose have those large tough bags for card holders, why can't more shops do this?