to think a charge for carrier bags is counterproductive

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Parliament are apparently going to approve a 5p charge for plastic bags.
Surely everyone reuses them as bin liners and if they werent getting the carrier bags would buy proper binliners instead which are made of thicker plastic so even more environmentally unsound.

We don't have a food scrap collection system and cooked food shouldn't go on the compost heap so some (not very much) food has to go into our bin. With a fortnightly bin collection it really does need to be wrapped. I might consider experimenting with just wrapping the food waste and seeing what happens.

All of the arguments for and against ALL of the different types of bags are given in this study - it is not as simple as getting rid of 75% of cheap plastic bags will "save the environment" - these other bags have a great environmental cost and removal of freebie plastic bags (and subsequent decrease in their predominant recycling as bin bags DOES have a huge environmental impact too...)

an example from the report - the way I personally use carriers as bin bags and reuse them for shopping would require ME personally, to use a cotton bag 327 to 393 times before the environmental impact was equal..

duckworth can't the plastic bags be washed? Raw meat from spmkts is usually in a plastic container with cling film or a plastic top, all of which can be recycled.

Have read that report before - and it does negate the "recyclable paper bags are better" argument, but not the others. A good quality bag for life (like a thick aldi carrier) only has to be used a few times to make it better in terms of carbon than a disposable one. Cotton a lot more, but I have cotton bags that are years old, they last for ever. Interestingly the organisations involved in the report are the same ones pushing for the ban (like WRAP) so I wonder if there is a follow-up to this somewhere showing that a charge encourages a certain amount of reuse that makes it worthwhile?

There is a woman who lives near me who takes loads of Tupperware containers to the supermarket. After paying for her shopping she unwraps and decants everything that can be into the containers and gives all the packaging back to the customer service assistant to dispose of.
She hopes that by making the packaging their problem they will hopefully do something to reduce it.

Oh it's the same as any new law loads of whining at first then everyone gets used to it.

I'm in Wales and either take reusables or buy bags and they get used for my small room bins. Hasn't increased my purchase of binliners at all.

I did wonder where the money went glad it's a charity.

We went to McDonalds sorry MN in Wales last week and had to pay 5p for a paper bag (that only fitted half the food in), now that, is taking liberties! did they expect me to Juggle my assortment of grease ridden food onto the back seat! when I wrote and complained (in a very Disgusted on Tunbridge wells was) the told me it was because of the environment .... fuckers!

www.wrap.org.uk/node/18514

Some info on what's happened in Wales - swing bin liner sales have gone up, but by a v small amount compared to reduction in bags. No rise in black bag sales. Impact of people buying new bags for life has offset some of the material savings, but only about a quarter. Generally good news!

What's going to happen about the carrier bags for online shopping then?

Are we going to get charged per bag then (even when they insist on using 1 bag per fecking item) at the last second, or will everything be delivered loose in the crates and emptied out onto your hallway floor?

Well Belleate It's certainly surprising that Mcdonalds cares more for the environment than it does for the health of its customers

You can get shopping delivered without bags, the delivery man carries the crates into the kitchen and you unload the shopping onto the worktop. You get extra club card points for doing it.

Smilesand The online shopping could be delivered in reusable bags which would be collected by the delivery companies the next time they deliver. ad infinitum IFYSWIM

*What's going to happen about the carrier bags for online shopping then?

Are we going to get charged per bag then (even when they insist on using 1 bag per fecking item) at the last second, or will everything be delivered loose in the crates and emptied out onto your hallway floor?*

With Tesco when it comes to check-out you can choose whether you want to have your shopping delivered in bags or not. I haven't ever chosen yes but assume if you do you will get charged. If you choose no then everything is loose in the crates. Depending on your delivery driver they might bring the crates into your kitchen and help you unpack onto your table/counters, might dump the crates on your doorstep and help you unpack onto your hallway or might just dump the crates on your doorstep and leave you to unpack everything onto your hallway whilst they go and 'check something in the van.'

Luckily I mostly encounter the first type of delivery driver who is happy to carry crates through to the kitchen and help unpack onto the table which is really helpful but do occasionally get the other types.

Why didn't you just ask for another 5p bag BelleateSebastian?
Fries can come in free bags as they are unwrapped food.

With online shopping you can get no bags, I just carry each crate in unload it onto the dining room table then take it back and get the next one, or you choose bags and they usually charge you about 20p.

Ours is delivered in bags, they take the ones from last time back for recycling if you want them to. We reuse some of ours and return the rest.

I always get the last type chester

I'm in favour.

As has already been mentioned it's been in place in Ireland for over a decade now and plastic bag consumption has dropped by 90%.

It works.

Re online-delivery - my kitchen is at the back of the house; you have to walk through Hall and Sitting room to get to it. I don't want some random delivery driver in my house. If I online-shop (and i haven't, for years) I'd like to select 'no bags' but would then have to unload everything into the Hall.

After paying for her shopping she unwraps and decants everything that can be into the containers and gives all the packaging back to the customer service assistant to dispose of
She hopes that by making the packaging their problem they will hopefully do something to reduce it

^
I vote for MN choosing 1 day in 2014 as a Day of Action against unnecessary food packaging and all of us do the above, just like that brilliant lady did!! I would probably help the poor checkout person by putting it into a bag... Oh dear .... That probably defeats the object :-)

Supermarkets need to work closely with the food manufacturers to agree reductions in packaging. That is as important as carrier bags

I live on the border between England and Wales - it is all about changing people's behaviour. I was the world's worst at taking loads of bags to use as bin liners. Now they are 5p, I use bags for life, even in English supermarkets. We just got used to not taking the free bags anymore.

Wales has an excellent coloured bag system for recycling, you can put so much in them, paper, cardboard, tins, bottles foil trays. Why arent these recycling schemes harmonised across every UK council, far too much variability. Compost heap gets all the organic matter, and we wrap small scraps of waste meat fish in newspaper to keep the bin fresher. We use much fewer binbags, about 1 per day as we got a tall Brabantia bin which means we dont keep filling the piddly little Tesco carriers 3 times a day.