Have bags-for-life become the new single use plastic bag?

[Matthew93]

The 5p plastic bag levy has caused the consumption of single use plastic bags to plummet in the UK. Supermarkets have bowed to public pressure and are stopping the sale of single use plastic bags across the country with Waitrose being the latest chain to follow suit. The UK Government are planning to raise the single use plastic bag levy to 10p and extend it to all stores regardless of their size. This all sounds like good news. But what effect is this having on the consumption of bags-for-life?

I, as an anti-plastic advocate, sometimes find myself caught short without bags when I do my shopping and am compelled to add to my ever expanding collection of bags-of-bags stored around the house. And, when I was working in supermarkets I often witnessed people just buying new bags-for-life every time they came shopping.

IMO, the bag-for-life has become the new single use plastic bag. bags-for-life take more energy and resources to make and take longer to decompose (if at all) than single use plastic bags and therefore the plastic bag levy is having a detrimental impact on the environment.

I'm doing my undergraduate dissertation on the subject and would genuinely love to hear what everyone thinks. Do you use bags-for-life like single use plastic bags? Have you seen or know other people who do? Leave a comment below.

I'm also running a 5 min questionnaire on the above and would really appreciate your input (there's a £40 Amazon gift card in it for you too).
Here's the link to the survey: goo.gl/forms/L2Cv9tAg4IgNABcq1

Thanks in advance and have a good day.

I would not Be suprised. I have many bags, but sometimes I forget to take them, so invariably I buy more, my collection is ridiculous, though I’ve been using the Xmas themed ones to gift presents in! I probably have 30+ bags

Have done survey

I've done the survey but some questions were impossible to answer. You need a 'not applicable' option for some sections. eg, I never use plastic bags, I don't go shopping without my own bags so I would never pay for a plastic bag whatever it's price. This wasn't an option.

I think the survey questions need working on. You don't cover fabric bags for life and don't define bags for life as the plastic 10-15p ones until later in the survey. My earlier answers refer to the fabric ones. I don't buy the plastic ones. Odd also that you don't ask people what would make them buy fabric bags for life instead of plastic bags for life.

Why can we only participate if resident in England and Wales? We have the same levy on single use plastic bags here in Scotland, in fact we brought it in a year earlier in 2014 and paved the way.

Thanks for your responses everyone, it's great to hear that what everyone thinks! Keep 'em coming!

About the survey questions, thank you for flagging up your issues with it. I'll have a look at making some changes but it was a struggle keeping it simple but also including more nuanced things like fabric bags and the like. Just answer as best you can.

Thanks again!

I didn't do the survery beacuse I love in NI, which banned plastic bags in 2013 and paved the way.

5 years on, we have a ridiculous amount of bags for life kicking around the house. We used to reuse all the bags for bin bags.

Survey done

Before the 5p charge I used the single use bags as kitchen waste bin liners.
Now I buy the bin liners on a roll.
So I,m still using the same amount of bags.

The single use are far too flimsy to use again and are often not good enough for a single use without splitting. And are not very good as bin bags.

So I quite like the new thicker ones. I reuse when I remember to take them along.