Is 5p for bags working?

St3v3

St3v3

Full Member

Messages
1,711
Is it? I decided to empty the bags from the cupboard at home as the door wouldn't shut.

20190311_123837.jpg

I'm going to go with no lol.

Anyone beat that?
 
I suppose they are not in the landfill or blowing round the countryside! But I think most homes have this problem!
 
St3v3 said:
Well, not today, but surely (sadly) one day they will?
Click to expand...
Very true
Our local shops only sell compostable bags...really focuses one's mind not to store them as they breakdown quite fast. Tend to use them as bin liners for small kitchen bin or food waste.
 
My job entails tipping on landfill sites,after the tax came in the difference was immediately noticeable,far less bags in sight,and a lot less blown off site into surrounding trees,so yes I would say it is working. I still use a bag from Lidl that I picked up in France about 4 years ago,but I still ask for a bag when doing a quick top up shop as i use them in my kitchen bin.
 
Overall it would appear to have dramatically reduced use UK plastic bag use
I learned the hard way not to store things in a modern plastic bag as they quickly turn to dust.
 
After doing a shop in Morrisons who appear to have gone over to paper bags which are useless for fruit & vegetables I can see why they changed to Plastic bags
 
Working? For Sure. Whilst it can be a bit frustrating to pay for an bag if you don't have one with you, most people now carry a bag or two when they go shopping and there is a hell of a lot less waste.
Must say if I end up buying a bag, I NEVER get the disposable 5p ones, but always the 10p bags for life ones - bigger, stronger and properly reusable (and free for a new one when they break).

But Steve, why do you not take some with you when you go shopping!!
 
I've been carrying folding fabric bags with me for a couple of decades and still have one in daily use that I bought in New Zealand 10 years ago! The big ripstop bags they sell for about 50p last for yonks too. I'd say plastic bag use has reduced enormously but it still irritates me that there are rolls of plastic bags by the fruit and veg in supermarkets... so simple just to keep a separate bag for this and pop everything in loose. I confess I'm still fairly addicted to ziplock bags for the freezer :( I do wash them and reuse as often as I can though.
 
Minisorella said:
I've been carrying folding fabric bags with me for a couple of decades and still have one in daily use that I bought in New Zealand 10 years ago! The big ripstop bags they sell for about 50p last for yonks too. I'd say plastic bag use has reduced enormously but it still irritates me that there are rolls of plastic bags by the fruit and veg in supermarkets... so simple just to keep a separate bag for this and pop everything in loose. I confess I'm still fairly addicted to ziplock bags for the freezer :( I do wash them and reuse as often as I can though.
Click to expand...
ref your veg - then all the fruit and veg would have to be emptied out on the conveyeur belt at the checkout to be weighed and/or counted and then put back in the back. Or all emptied out and rolling around at the self-checkout. There would be a long line of scowling customers behind you I bet! plus I'd prefer my veg to be handled by lesser people as can be TBH.
My Local greengrocer has whicker baskets that you just put you goods in all together and they pick it out to count/weigh it and then goes into bag you brought - that would be the greenest option I guess
 
wildebus said:
ref your veg - then all the fruit and veg would have to be emptied out on the conveyeur belt at the checkout to be weighed and/or counted and then put back in the back. Or all emptied out and rolling around at the self-checkout. There would be a long line of scowling customers behind you I bet! plus I'd prefer my veg to be handled by lesser people as can be TBH.
My Local greengrocer has whicker baskets that you just put you goods in all together and they pick it out to count/weigh it and then goes into bag you brought - that would be the greenest option I guess
Click to expand...
I scan as I shop, so everything stays in my bags after I've weighed it and printed the little label to scan. You're right though, if I shop anywhere else I have to put it all from the trolley to the conveyor. Even if I'd plastic-bagged it, everything would still need to be weighed at the checkout though.

The whicker baskets are a great idea!
 
Writing of personal experience:
  • Is it working to reduce my use of previously free disposable plastic carrier bags?
    Yes! I now have a collection of hard-wearing "bags for life" that I take shopping. FWIW, I call the 5p charge, "the memory tax" because you have to pay 5p per bag if you forget to bring one with you to the shop.
  • Is it working to reduce my use of disposable plastic bags?
    No! Previously, we used the supermarket carrier bags as wastebasket bin liners and, because our supply of these was limited by the number we'd got from shopping, we often used to empty the carrier bags into a black bin bag and reuse the carrier bag. Now, we buy cheap rolls of 80 wastebasket liners, which we never reuse. Each time we empty a wastebasket, we just tie the handles of the cheap liner and pop it into a black bin bag. The result is that we now send a lot more disposable plastic bags to landfill than we used to.
So, while the bag tax has reduced my use of the previously free disposable carrier bags and allowed the Government to claim success, it's actually increased the number of bags that I now send to landfill. Rather a spectacular own goal IMO.
 
Minisorella said:
I scan as I shop, so everything stays in my bags after I've weighed it and printed the little label to scan.
Click to expand...

If you Scan as you Shop at Tesco the service checks they do once in a while have started to get silly :eek:

They now have to scan every item you have bought instead of the usual 6 items due to so much stock not being scanned and stolen.

The girl on the Scan as you Shop section last saturday morning told us about this and the angry response they are getting from customers :mad:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top