5p

[AtW]

Fooking Tories

[MicrosoftBob]

Everywhere else in the UK has had this for ages

[VectraMan]

I went into Tescos yesterday morning and used the self-service tills and they seemed to have taken away all the bags for some reason. Maybe they were replacing them with new 5p ones. The software now asks slightly confusingly both how many of my own bags I'd used and how many I'd taken, thus wasting valuable extra seconds.

I take a reusable bag when I remember, and when I forget I use plastic bags. The 5p charge isn't going to change my behaviour either way. But it's probably a good thing.

[minestrone]

Yes, the self service bag line of questioning rips my knickers.

There is no option for 'not using a bag', you have to say, 'not using my own' then 'used 0 bags'.

[stek]

When I was in Dublin bags were 23 cents.....

[rl4engc]

Supermarket plastic bags are just an easy target that people have latched on to, but won't make the slightest difference to landfill volumes in the bigger scheme of things. E.g. a typical family shop say it's 8 carrier bags full. The actual volume of plastic in the 8 plastic bags is miniscule compared to the non-recyclable packaging of the shopping itself.

Personally I think it'd make a bigger impact if shoppers had the option of buying things like coffee, rice, pasta, serials, dried herbs etc. from bulk containers and just fill up paper bags to take home to put in their own containers.

[MrMarkyMark]

Supermarket plastic bags are just an easy target that people have latched on to, but won't make the slightest difference to landfill volumes in the bigger scheme of things. E.g. a typical family shop say it's 8 carrier bags full. The actual volume of plastic in the 8 plastic bags is miniscule compared to the non-recyclable packaging of the shopping itself.

Exactly this.
In reality, they (the govenment) would be scared to take on the food manufacturing / processing industry.

[SlipTheJab]

I saw a carrier bag with an England Rugby shirt in it just discarded on the street the other day, whoever did it must have been crazy, those bags are valuable!

[VectraMan]

Supermarket plastic bags are just an easy target that people have latched on to, but won't make the slightest difference to landfill volumes in the bigger scheme of things. E.g. a typical family shop say it's 8 carrier bags full. The actual volume of plastic in the 8 plastic bags is miniscule compared to the non-recyclable packaging of the shopping itself.

True, however wasting bags to the extent that we do is pretty dumb. It's not always a full family shop. How many people take a plastic bag to put one magazine in, or perhaps a sandwich?

[unixman]

Supermarket plastic bags are just an easy target that people have latched on to, but won't make the slightest difference to landfill volumes in the bigger scheme of things. E.g. a typical family shop say it's 8 carrier bags full. The actual volume of plastic in the 8 plastic bags is miniscule compared to the non-recyclable packaging of the shopping itself.

Personally I think it'd make a bigger impact if shoppers had the option of buying things like coffee, rice, pasta, serials, dried herbs etc. from bulk containers and just fill up paper bags to take home to put in their own containers.

I'm no expert but I think the damage done by plastic bags is out of proportion to the actual mass of plastic involved. They float around the oceans and get tangled up with sea life, or poison birds/animals. And if 3 or 4 bags get tangled in the upper twigs of a tree in your garden, you get to watch as the wind slowly shreds them over the next 25 years.

Couldn't agree more with your other point about bulk buy/container point. Packaging has got potty.