To shout at the next person that says the 5p bag money goes to charity

[Marue]

Firstly the government get a big slice of it from vat and secondly it goes to "good causes". Many large shops have created foundation trusts purely to bank this money with and the rules are not that strict on what actually happens to the money.

Everyone keeps saying it goes to charity and that is not true.

Even if usage goes down 90% with stores like sainsburys now doing jumbo thick bags for 5p that must use about 10x the plastic we will be no better off. Maybe worse off as the old bags biodegraded in a few years, these jumbo thick bags will probably take a century!

[JeffsanArsehole]

The last point you're wrong on as far as I know. The thin ones take over 500 years to degrade but the thick ones can be recycled (and are more likely to be)

[ilovesooty]

Don't buy the bags then. Why are you so bothered about what other people think or do?

[Floggingmolly]

The purpose of the charge is to reduce the amount of plastic bags in circulation, not to raise money as an end in itself. Stop buying them...

[RJnomaaaaaargh]

The thin ones don't take over 500 years. The one in my wardrobe turned to powder in less than 5.

[JassyRadlett]

Maybe worse off as the old bags biodegraded in a few years, these jumbo thick bags will probably take a century!

Even the biodegradable ones don't break down in landfill - they need oxygen. And when they do, they leave plenty of nasties behind.

The ones that might break down in a few years are the ones floating around as litter, killing and maiming wildlife and being a massive eyesore.

[Marue]

The thin ones don't take 500 years! The most recent ones from sainsburys that have just been withdrawn take 2-3 years to turn into dust.

[KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes]

Shouting at people who are misinformed is kind of weird.

Could you not just correct them normally? With manners and stuff?

[Marue]

reduce the amount of plastic bags in circulation

That it will do, but doubt it will make any change on the plastic consumption of the average person by volume.

[HeySoulSister]

Where's your evidence that 'many big shops have created foundation trusts?'

[NoahVale]

the 5p goes to charity

[JassyRadlett]

The thin ones don't take 500 years! The most recent ones from sainsburys that have just been withdrawn take 2-3 years to turn into dust.

Oddly enough, the 'thin ones' aren't all made of identical material.

Cupboards (dry, reasonably warm) provide a fairly good environment for oxodegradeable bags to break down. Still wouldn't want to let an animal ingest the 'dust' based on the results of some tests.

Colder conditions, or places that have high humidity, are much less good. It's good we don't live somewhere that has cool, wet winters. Oh....

[ilovesooty]

Oh dear Noah The OP might shout now.

[tomatodizzy]

You plan to shout at someone over a plastic bag? It could be worse I suppose not sure how

[MamaLazarou]

I read that the supermarkets don't have to give the money to charity but that it's 'frowned upon' if they don't.

[MamaLazarou]

"Oddly enough, the 'thin ones' aren't all made of identical material."

The OP made it very clear that she was talking about the Sainsbury's ones. There's really no need for sarcasm.

[MamaLazarou]

www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/plastic-bag-charge-where-does-the-5p-go-a6679811.html

[Marue]

Thanks mama

This is also a good link

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/plastic-bag-tax-its-here-and-its-green-but-retailers-will-decide-where-the-money-goes-a6678706.html

[JassyRadlett]

The OP made it very clear that she was talking about the Sainsbury's ones. There's really no need for sarcasm

She categorically stated that 'the thin ones' don't take hundreds of years to break down, then used a Sainsbury's one as proof that they don't.

Fair enough in the circumstances to point out that they're not all identical to the Sainsbury's ones...

[JassyRadlett]

(Even if the Sainsbury's ones degraded over the course of a few years in all circumstances. Which they don't.)

[RJnomaaaaaargh]

Firstly I am not the op secondly the bag which disintegrated in my wardrobe was tescos - the ones which crumbled in the bottom of the IKEA holder in my warm humid kitchen were however from a variety of shops.

[Shortandsweet20]

I may get shot down, but I work at Clarks and ours definitely goes to charity! We used to use a bag for rubbish and now if we do we have to put it through to donate that 5p to the charity!

[ComposHatComesBack]

Christ the England have made an almighty meal of the charging for carrier bags. It was implemented in Scotland with a tiny fraction of this bleating. A situation only exacerbated by having so many exceptions to the rule, presumably to try and appease the Daily Mail reading cunts who were up in arms when bins switched to fortnightly collection because they were too lazy and self centred to do recycling.

[TelephoneIgnoringMachine]

I love my cotton string bag from Turtle Bags. You could probably chuck it in the compost heap when it wears out.

[squoosh]

We've been paying for plastic bags in Ireland since 1747 (or thereabouts). You'll be fine and soon you'll forget they were ever free.

[JassyRadlett]

Firstly I am not the op hmm secondly the bag which disintegrated in my wardrobe was tescos - the ones which crumbled in the bottom of the IKEA holder in my warm humid kitchen were however from a variety of shops

Apologies, you're right, I should have distinguished between you and the OP, as you mentioned cupboards and she did not. As you say a number of shops used to use oxo-degradables (though some like Co-op stopped using them ages ago because of evidence they may do more harm than good). The OP talked about Sainsbury's bags turning to dust, and it was her comments to which I referred.

Warm is good for oxodegrading, though obviously I have no idea about the relative humidity of your kitchen cupboards. Cold and damp is not. Landfill most definitely is not.

Lots of research out there that is easy to find, conducted both here and abroad.