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!

Fairness? I asked if that is what you meant.... you don't, so the rest of that doesn't apply. Why get upset about it?

As for the turkey card, YWBVVVU... to order your turkey from a supermarket rather than a local butcher. But the plastic turkey card would have irritated me too.

I don't disagree that the late entry into baglessness does smack of politics for points rather than of conviction in the ethics of it. But, to be perfectly frank, I couldn't give a shit, as long as there is a reduction in consumer waste.

If someone else wants to cavil about it being to small a change then step up, tell us what you are doing that is so much better. Some of us do a lot more than the 5th October change will enforce. Should we regress just because the change is deemed to be too small by some, who won't/can't even offer up some better alternatives?

rufus, you think it applies.... so you haven't actually looked to see what the changes actually are? After I linked to the .gov site, too!

"Yay they've wasted millions on coming up with their rules and come up with a complicated system that isn't perfect."

Where is your evidence for saying it's cost millions to develop these rules, Rufusgy?

I was pondering all this whilst waiting for a self-service checkout the other day... the whole thing seems to be set up for as much waste as possible. The self-service machine goes haywire if you use your own bags unless it is one tiny bag - a big rucksack really throws it, as does arranging stuff amongst different bags so you can actually carry it. Plus the whole shape and set up of the thing doesn't allow for much shopping and is designed for filling one carrier bag at a time. So the idea is you bag all your stuff in carriers and drive home, multiple times a week... I feel like some looney hippy when I shop there, I swear the shop assitants think "Oh no, it's her!" and then have to stand there constantly sorting out the machine when it objects...

(On a side note, I love it when the self-service tills say your alcohol needs to be 'approved'... I imagine they will come over and say "A merlot, with fish? - what are you thinking!" or something...)

I want to buy figs, berries, ripe avacadoes without collecting all this plastic.

Subject I shop online with Morrison's. And no you can't get figs, strawberries, bluenerries, ripe avocados etc not pre wrapped.

So don't buy your fruit and veg online then. What do you want them to do? Carry it to your house in their hands? Have blueberries and grapes rolling around loose in a tray? Go to the market or supermarket and buy them using the Onya Weigh bags that I linked to up thread.

I have tried to avoid plastic carrier bag in about 10 years. I always have a small fold up bag attached to my keys so I know I will have it with me whenever I leave the house.
When I know I need a couple of things then I will take a large shopping bag with me. The only time I use one is when I buy clothes.
I might well buy a new fold up bag just for clothes so I know that it is clean.

I've taken to shopping more in Lidl/Aldi and most of the fruit and veg is pre-packed . Before I re-used the ones in the supermarket...kept them together in one of them with my shopping bags and just kept using them again...
I did get funny looks - but not as bad as when I used to go to spud u like a lot - say once every month or two with DCs - it was our treat on a shopping trip in town...I used to take the cutlery home and wash it and use it again ....
(And I have been know to take our rubbish home from places like macdonalds then I could recycle it - and always ask for no toy in a happy meal ....and sometimes no box.... (DCs find me mortifying)...

You don't need to put loose veg in anything though really - just weigh it and then put it straight in your fabric bag, either at the check out or in the fruit section if you are scanning it yourself. That is what I have done for years.

We are so behind much of Europe in this - plastic wrapped everything isn't essential at all.

If I have to stock up on the currently free carrier bags, as they fold up smallest in my rucksack, I hope that Iceland keep the same style, as theirs are the best and longest lasting ones as far as I've found. :)

The 5p bags are better quality than the old carriers. At the self service I just bag it all up once I've paid so it doesn't go haywire. I put the shopping into the bagging area them get out my wee foldaway fabric bags (M&S do them and you can buy them for pennies on Amazon) I always keep three in handbag.

The daftest story I heard was someone buying an engagement ring for over £1k then having to pay 5p for one of the nice jewellers bags rather than carry it home in an asda bag for life. I like seeing how much stuff I can get in my handbag lol but do miss handy carriers if needed.

I think your talking about yourself.

That report was not about the uk policy,about bags in general.

I want to buy figs, berries, ripe avacadoes without collecting all this plastic.

Like others have said, if it bothers you that much, change your shopping habits and support your local greengrocer/market.

We've been living with this for a while and it is surprising how quickly it becomes habit and normal. We are always a bit taken aback when we visit England now about how profligate the stores are with bags, particularly when the cashier automatically bags something small like a book when you already have a perfectly serviceable bag in your hand.

I have to say, this thread has deepened my sympathy for Galileo and helped me understand why the Flat Earth Society persisted. Change is A-OK folks, not the end of civilisation as we know it.

Ah, deletion fail on the first 2 paras above.

I wonder why the OP keeps starting threads in AIBU - apart from traffic - when she shows no interest whatever in listening to an alternative point of view.

So what will happen when you use self service, how will you be able to pay for some carrier bags?

It must be quite hard to type when you have your fingers in your ears and crowing "la la la, I'mnot listening!"

And when you're continuing several attention seeking threads at once.

It asks you if you've brought your own or want to buy some/how many, then adds them to the bill, Foot. The helper people keep an eye on things so people don't nick them.

Oh right, thanks RomCom

In rural Irish supermarkets they don't put the fruit and veg in little plastic bags. They have paper bags instead.

The only things they wrap in plastic is fresh meat & fish and I always decline the offer of double wrapping it.

Our bins are weighed here so you pay directly to dump your crap. It does give you an incentive to reduce your quarterly bin bill.

I think it's a good start, agree with all the comments about it not being enough though - packaging is shockingly wasteful.

Also agree with those mentioning tissue thin plastic bags being utterly pointless. We do reuse ours as bin bags and for cleaning out litter trays, sainsburys bags all tear on the way home so can't be reused. That does seem like madness.

I'm curious about whether paper bags are better - you can't recycle wet paper can you? I've recently had a paper bag from holland and barratt that just disintegrated into mush in the rain and paper is fairly water intensive to produce isn't it? Same thoughts about cotton - is it really better or does it just use different resources? Those are genuine questions by the way, not snarkiness.

While things like soft fruit obviously need some kind of packaging it baffles me that people need to put things like onions, potatoes, bananas etc into something. Just put them loose on the belt and then straight into a (reusable!) bag surely?

I'm curious about whether paper bags are better - you can't recycle wet paper can you?
The problem with plastic carrier bags is that they don't really biodegrade. They break down, but only into really tiny bits of plastic. This ultimately makes its way into the sea and then into the animal food chain. A huge percentage of seabirds have plastic in their guts.

you can put paper bags on the compost heap or the compost bin

Another one in Scotland and it's absolutely fine here, I've never heard a single complaint about it. I sometimes use carrier bags to line the bins, usually I just empty it into the landfill bin then put it back but our food waste goes in the food bin for seperate collection so the only smelly stuff is wrappers around meat and if we buy cat food pouches. Anyway, it means we don't get through as many bags lining the bin so win-win there.

Can't be arsed googling the differences between here and England but I think the Scottish scheme relates to just about every bag, even paper ones. Unless I'm really desperate I say no anyway, just in case.

Plastic bag use has dropped dramatically here. Small victory I think so room to move on to the next thing.

YANBU it's total greenwash.

Everybody feels more virtuous using their cotton and jute bags but generally, they're much worse over their lifecycle. This is non-evidence based policy.

Right, because nobody bought bin liners before? I don't know anybody who uses carrier bags for their bin

and I don't know anyone who doesn't use carrier bags instead of buying bin liners shrugs

I've taken my own bags to the shops for years but I do have both Tesco and Ocado deliveries because we live a long way from tow. I've always had the no bag option for Tesco and it works really well, nothing gets tipped or crushed. I unload into a washing basket at the front door. The Ocado bags I use to wrap waste instead of bin liners or black bags. The waste needs to be wrapped because of the fortnightly refuse collection.

We already recycle as much as we possibly can and never take any bags unless they're absolutely necessary. I do agree about general over wrapping though.

One thing I haven't noticed when speed reading this thread is the immense costs to larger stores and to the council tax payers, of accounting for, reporting to government and supervising/policing the new regulation as required by the new law.

Fuck cotton bags, I have this one www.anta.co.uk/fashion/bags/uist-utility-bag .

Swim bag, hand bag, shopping bag - lovely. Spun by elves from unicorn hair.