Looks like paying for shopping bags is finally coming in

[SueEllen]

Also, shoppers will be giving to supermarkets the choice of charity, and who's to say those "charitable donations" won't end up as simply a disguised substitute for Government spending.

Charity donations already are.

The likes of local charties i.e. many food banks, mini-buses for disabled or elderly, and some larger charities i.e. NSPCC do government work for them so are given funding by local and/or central government. When local and central government reduced their spending the charities had to increase their fundraising directly with the public and businesses. However as not all charities fundraise that well loads of local charities have gone up the wall.

[MaryPoppins]

Turns out reusable bags spread disease: The Disgusting Consequences of Plastic-Bag Bans - Bloomberg

They're OK as long as you clean them frequently, but only 3% of people do; and they're even more dangerous if stored in the car, which everybody does.

On the bright side, all supermarkets' giveaway plastic bags have been made of biodegradable plastic for years, and can also be recycled.

I don't. Can't bear having anything in the boot.

[SueEllen]

I don't. Can't bear having anything in the boot.

OCD?

[d000hg]

I don't mind paying for a bag, I do object to paying to advertise for the store. Bags should be plain.

If I forget my bags and have to pay I will turn them inside out.

Good luck doing that with Tesco ones.

I thought they were all biodegradable. I too use them as bin bags.

All that will happen is people will start buying bin bags again so there will still be tons of bags in landfill.

That's bad logic. The amount of bags used in bins will stay the same, but typically an average family weekly supermarket shop would use 8-10 bags and they wouldn't use that many in bins per week.

Additionally, for bigger bins they are no use anyway.

When my local Tescos brought in reusable bags a few years ago, they said they were going to stop giving out plastic bags completely after 6 months or so. Which obviously they never did.

Ours do ask you if you want bags though, rather than have them out for you to grab.

Seems like a good idea, but how's it going to work with self service tills?

Or home delivery... Tesco will take last week's bags back with them, happily accepting ANY carrier bags not just their own. But how to police this...

[MaryPoppins]

OCD?

Fairly. That and water being left in a kettle, make my teeth itch.

But the bag hygiene thing I think I must have read

[NickFitz]

Additionally, for bigger bins they are no use anyway.

They are if you cut the bottom off.

[TheFaQQer]

So, having failed with AV and House of Lords reform, finally Nick Clegg has a policy that he can brag about to the party conference.

[d000hg]

They are if you cut the bottom off.

Our new cleaner has a clever, really simple trick everyone else probably already knows about... keep a few empty carrier bags at the bottom of each bin and then line the bin with another bag. Then when you come to empty the bin, spare bags are to hand without having to find any.

[original PM]

does this not mean that all the plastic carrier bags I have been hoarding for years n years because we were not allowed to throw them away are now worth something?

surely?

[d000hg]

Where do you keep the spanners?

Just asking, like.

A lady does not carry a spanner. She waits for a man to turn up with his tool.