Plastic bag law is a waste of time

[Rufusgy]

Normal plastic bags are so thin and create hardly Any waste and many people reuse them. I use them to line my bins. So now will have to buy bin bags, that are usually thicker with more plastic.

These bags for life use a lot of plastic and I've seen study's that they waste far far more as they get grotty and people bin them after a dozen or so uses.

If they really wanted to make a change how about getting rid of all the plastic veg comes in or have a plastic bottle deposit scheme?

Its still all this stuff about a free bag if you buy raw fish or razor blades.

Attached a pic of my veg and all the plastic trays!

I'm in Wales where it's been going on for ages. Practically everyone takes bags for life or jute bags shopping now. If we forget bags, the supermarkets usually have boxes and cardboard crates under the checkout which we then re-use as storage boxes for DD's toys, or recycle.

Works well here in Wales ,
It took a bit of getting used too , but now we all take our hessian bags out shopping .
Just empty your unlined bins into a black sack when they're full , it s fine

I help at a food bank and one of the less known things that could be donated to the food bank is carrier bags - we double bag all the food that is handed out.

That's going to be an interesting change.

It was a bit weird going to the Irish Republic about 10 years ago after they'd withdrawn plastic carrier bags and having everything put in paper carrier bags, particularly because we visited in the winter and they quickly got soggy in the rain.

I get that you're in a lather about it, Rufusgy, but even a small change like charging for bags does make you think about how you treat everything as disposable. It changed our thinking.

I'm a reception teacher and we use old plastic bags to send home wet clothes all the time. I don't know what we will do without them.

Not getting into the plastic bag debate - have reused mine for years (jute ones, carbon neutral and have been repaired) and in Scotland so used to the charge...
What annoys me most with excess packaging is it is usually on the 'finest' items.
So organic apples have a polystyrene tray...the one that annoys me most is cheap sausages made from EU pork come in a thin plastic wrapper - good quality organic free range UK pork ones come in a too big for them plastic tray ....with a cardboard sleeve.... seems you can do your bit for the animals - or for the environment but not both...
(Or just use the local butcher - which I do for most things ....no plastic/polystyrene trays but their sausages are the only things that aren't that great quality wise....)

I've heard the English law on plastic bags is going to be a nightmare, confusing, convoluted, inconsistent, contradictory and nothing like the law in Wales which is excellent, because it's simple and well understood by everyone.

For example free bags can be given if the shop employs less than 250 people but the big supermarkets will have to charge. A bag can be given for certain products such as razor blade or an axe but not for a hammer. I mean it's that ridiculous, there will need to be a manual given out to shop keepers so they can look up what you can put in a free bag.

I've used hessian bags and reusable for years because of living on the border so have to take them when we shop in Monmouth for example which is in Wales. Just another government cock-up!

Like many people, I have felt for years that the pressure should be on the food industry to stop all the wrapping of fruit and veg, excess use of display boxes like pizzas which don't need all that wasteful wrapping that gets thrown into recycling boxes

A few years ago there was some discussion about weighing people's wheelie bins and charging by weight for refuse collection. I remember reading that they do this in Germany and Germans will unbox goods in store and leave any unnecessary packaging behind for the store to pay for. There is far too much packaging on most of our goods. The few years when we had tiny children, every Christmas was a complete bloody heart-sink on the rubbish front.

It's worked really well in all other areas of the UK. England is the last to adopt this.
It's really not that difficult to understand and doesnt impact on your shopping if you remember to take bags with you.
YABU.

They might just add a fixed bag charge to your shop, quiet, like they do elsewhere.

I agree with the charge on plastic bags. But what i dont agree with is the charge on all bags. Places like mcdonalds or burger king for example charge for the bag they put your food in. These bags are paper and paper can be recycled. Also what do they expect me to put my food into when im taking it home. Im in scotland.

YABU. Works perfectly well over here in Jersey. we forget our bags, we pay between 5-10p in the shop for another.

Ocado will charge each bag for 5p, but next time you can return for a refund. I've got 100s, I might win on this.

Still hate the law.

Since shopping in aldi I soon got used to remembering my bags. Use a combo of the large IKEA bags jute bags and bags for life. I'm still using them if I shop elsewhere. Few months and it will be normal

Sainsburys you can either chose a bagless delivery or pay a flat rate of 40p. The driver I spoke to the other week wasn't best too pleased about the prospect of bagless deliveries (esp in terms of a lot more bending) and dh is thinking it will be a right pita to deal with.
We will probably just pay the flat rate.

yy daisy - in Scotland Mcdonalds can't give you a bag without charging but in England Primark will get away with not charging for their bags as they are paper (but they are useless for anything else so will be binned as soon as they get home)...surely a cheap plastic one reused a couple of types would be better?

YABU. It has worked well here in Wales

The problem I have, is I often go shopping on a whim. And I don't drive. So how do I carry a load of bags with me just in case?

I think people who do drive will drive more, as it will be difficult to take your kids to school by walking if you have to carry a load of empty bags with you for when you go shopping afterwards.

I've just bought one of these. Easy to keep in the car and hopefully, transport from car to house.

This is what I was originally looking for though

In Ireland it's worked really well, and people don't tend to use bags for life, they use boxes or fabric bags. Plus clothes shops etc switched to paper (Primark is based in Ireland and they already use paper inc UK). Plus it has actually cut down on plastic use elsewhere as people have become more aware, eg veg.

I order my veg through riverford and The lack of packaging is refreshing. I also use cotton shopping bags and wash them when they look grotty