to really resent paying for plastic bags for food

[mumsfretter]

I am probably BU.

I just think that M&S charging for plastic bags for food (not clothes) is utterly ridiculous. I usually use my bag for life but occasionally need to run in for some items on my way home from somewhere. On these occasions I need a plastic bag (which I would use again) and resent paying for it. If I was buying a pair of socks on the other side of the store I would get a free one but for food I don't. And don't get me started on how much packaging they use themselves, so it's hardly a green thing.

I realise there are more important things to get annoyed about but AIBU to resent paying for plastic bags.

halloweenyqueeny
"You could always pack straight back into your trolly then straight into your car"

That's my point it's when I am on foot on my way home from somewhere, I do try and stuff as much into my large handbag as possible but sometimes there is too much or possibly leaky product. Why can I not get a bag for those times and why do they give them out for clothes?

You can get reuseable bags that roll up into a tiny little ball closed with a draw string. I keep one of these in my handbag at all times. When open, its much bigger than a regular plastic bag and when rolled up its about the size of a ping pong ball.

YABU. I'm all for it, it makes people stop and think whether they actually need them.

Although M&S could probably do with taking a good look at the amount of packaging they use on their products too.

if you have a large handbag that you take on foot to town then there is no reason for you not to keep a stash of other bags in it, other than you just forgetting to. they're not heavy and take up little space

its nobodies fault but mine if I forget my keys or phone, so it's nobodies fault but mine if I forget my bags

Presumably they were never really free as the cost had to be absorbed into prices of other items.

Actually seems fair enough to me - and the small bags you don't get charged for.

bubblemoon
"YABU. You only need a plastic bag because you couldn't be arsed to remember to take one with you."

It wasn't that I couldn't be arsed to take one with me, I was on my way home from work and realised I needed stuff.

Out of interest do you accept bags for clothes. Or if you buy a nice product from a nice shop do you accept the bag and freebie crap they put in there?

Bag use in the UK rose by 7.5% last year which I think is appalling.

In Wales it dropped by 22%, I would like to see anything bar the canvas or jute bags for life for sale banned in the whole UK tbh.

What SuperSesame said. You don't have to use plastic ones at all. It's about a change in attitude. I don't use plastic bags.

Why isn't England doing what Wales has done?

Maybe I just feel it's wrong that a company that uses ridiculous amounts of packaging makes a stand by charging for plastic bags.

People seem so focussed on plastic bags when they merrily buy inordinate amounts of plastic crap for their kids.

If you think I am unreasonable then I would hope you don't give or receive kids party bags normally full of little nits of plastic or is that different?

Maybe a choice of bags at high street shops?

Free flimsy biodegradable bag for your Next jumper, just to get it home, or the usual big strong plastic bag with Next emblazoned all over it, but it'll cost you a pound?

You are being (very) unreasonable. Get a grip and carry an envirosac or something. I'm delighted that companies like M & S have finally got their act together.

Carrier bags are easy to do away with and are easily replaced with something different.

Pretty much the only bags I take are Primark ones, and they are paper. I have a canvass bag in my handbag. Easy.

X posts OP, my post wasnt an answer to yours :)

I'm often appalled by the amount of packaging on a product. Charging for a bag is a step in the right direction though isnt it?

It is ridiculous that they give out free bags with the clothes-these should be charged for too.

I recently ordered some clothes for dd to 'click and collect' [hhmm] in m&s they were already wrapped in plastic, but the person serving still looked at me incredulously when I refused a plastic bag. I get this a lot 'are you sure you wouldn't like a bag?'

I still see people coming out of the supermarket with a trolley full of shopping all in the free type of plastic bags; hopefully they are reusing them, but I doubt it. [hsad]

I think it's a great idea.

The environment is just ever so slightly more important than a little bit of inconvenience for shoppers. (Not that charging for plastic bags isn't going to ensure that this planet is habitable for human beings in 50 years, but it's a step in the right direction.)

It's a crying shame that the environmental message seems to have got lost, people seem to have forgotten about it. (It's a bit 1990s really, IYKWIM).
I'm just of guilty of this by the way!

However the reality is that it's getting ever more urgent.

My personal opinion is that people find the "save the planet" as bit abstract. The planet is a big thing! And actually, very unlikely to disappear any time soon.

I think a better slogan would be "save the human", as what we're talking about is the survival of the human race on this planet. For much of the history of Earth, we wouldn't have been able to survive here as the conditions would have been too harsh. The mild weather for the last few millennia has allowed the human race to survive and flourish. If the weather systems heat and/or become chaotic, we're fucked. It's becoming a very real possibility (there's mounting evidence and very few serious scientists disagree about the reality of climate change these days).

Worrying about the inconvenience of a few plastic bags is laughable tbh. Dark, cynical, gallows humour laughter.

yabu
get a couple of cotton/jute/fabric bags and keep them in your handbag. and a couple of crates in the car for the weekly shop.

I hate seeing plastic bags hanging high up in trees. makes me sad and angry.

"I was on my way home from work and realised I needed stuff."

soooooo go to your handbag now, put some bags in it, then next time you need to make an unplanned purchase they are already there.. not rocket science is it?

I think I read somewhere that paper bags like the primark ones, are actually worse than plastic bags as they are so heavy to transport; so use more fuel.

In American TV shows you always seem to see people wandering along or coming home with big brown paper bags bursting full of groceries don't you?

Is that what they do over there? Or is it a cliche?

It's a bit pointless saying "but what about this other environmentally bad thing! Let's not do this thing because of all the other stuff"

"If you think I am unreasonable then I would hope you don't give or receive kids party bags normally full of little nits of plastic or is that different?"

I don't, I decorate a box that I had something delivered in, and put one bigish toy/activity per child in it and do a "thank you" lucky dip at the end.

and wrap christmas presents for family in christmas fabric which goes back in the christmas box for next year

what's your point? that noone is allowed to think YABU? even though everyone on the whole thread does

oh for crying out loud if you've got a "large handbag" anyway just keep a blooming carrier bag in it!

Just get on of these these there's millions of different types and they sell them everywhere. They're even at the till in M&S!

But they are recyclable. Most are made of LDPE, and others are HD. They get washed and shredded and made into new bags. More annoying, in my opinion, are the plastic food trays which most councils don't bother recycling. They can be recycled, but have a low value, so councils won't collevt them.