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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Plastic bag charge - big shops will all be paper bags soon

83 replies

Helenluvsrob · 11/10/2015 17:32

Aibu to think that the bigger non supermarket retailers will turn to paper ASAP?

I'm sure I saw John Lewis paper bag in the new grand central in brum, as well as the usual monsoon ones .

If not they are really going to have to think out the speed at which thry can get people through the tills. I can't juggle half a dozen small items at a till without a belt thingy , pay with my card, get out my reusable bag and pack it myself in less than about twice the time it takes to hand over goods , pay and recieve the ready packed bag. Not to mention putting the receipt in my purse as its not " in the bag from X shop" if I need it.

Reusable a in supermarkets is easy as no slower but this was ugh!

OP posts:

slithytove · 11/10/2015 20:19

I've not had a problem in the supermarkets as ive used my own bags for ages, but it'll take some getting used to when clothes or toy/Christmas shopping I think.

bertsdinner · 11/10/2015 20:19

I havnt heard any moaning, just people either buying a bag or producing their own.
I did buy a winter coat today and, because it wouldnt fit in my bag, yes I carried it out of the store over my arm! I was parked 5 mins away though and on my way home, if I'd been planning on staying longer/parked further away I would have bought a bag.
I did actually set the alarm off (sales assistant left a tag on), but had the receipt in my hand so no problems there.

Senpai · 11/10/2015 20:27

I don't understand why there's a charge for the bags in the first place. They're cheap bags that cost next to nothing to make. How did businesses manage to convince everyone that this was an ok thing to do?

They're free here in the US and the cashiers pack our bags for us.

It's not saving the environment to use less bags or paper. Bags are made from recycled plastic and paper comes from tree farms which have healthier forests and trees than forests that no one is allowed to touch. The only thing it's accomplishing is generating a little extra money for the fat cats upstairs.

noeffingidea · 11/10/2015 20:28

Yeah, it's only on forums really (and not just this one either). I'm sure there's the odd twat somewhere that's made a fuss in a shop, but that's just a normal day in retail.
I actually prefer it. My Mum always used her own shopping bags (or basket), as everyone did.Looking back, I don't think the free carrier bag thing ever needed to hapoen really.

ajandjjmum · 11/10/2015 20:55

Perhaps past your bedtime Anna - you sound rather touchy?!

BrendaandEddie · 11/10/2015 20:57

ITS ONLY 5p

JUST BUY A FIRCKEN BAG

BinkyandFlip · 11/10/2015 21:04

It's not that Bren

My kitchen is FULL of bags. I don't want to add to the waste, I just want to be able to manage it better without buying them.

Mind you I do reuse them here. I think a lot of people don't really want to buy them, not because it's 5p but because they start to fill up your house and they are a waste of resources etc.

The reason people use them isn't because they are free, it's because they are convenient at the time. That's why so many people are failing to manage the new situation properly.

JassyRadlett · 11/10/2015 21:05

That's bollocks, I'm afraid. Making and distributing single use carrier bags, even when they are made from recycled materials which they aren't always, takes energy, water, chemicals and a bunch of other resources. And then of course, plenty end up in landfill or worse - they're terrible litter, and what they do to food chains and wildlife, particularly in wetlands or oceans, is grim. One study showed that plastic bag litter can break down the food chain in a coastal marshland in nine weeks.

elephantoverthehill · 11/10/2015 21:45

The plastic bags given away 'free' in supermarkets have been biodegradable for at least 3 years. The bags 'for life' are not - which is better?

Osmiornica · 11/10/2015 21:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es · 11/10/2015 22:02

I've been buying half a dozen things in the likes of Boots and Tesco express and using reusable bags to pack them in for years, basket over your arm as you approach the till, hand in to bag to extract reusable bag, put basket down, unfold it by the time the first couple of items are scanned, either fill as they scan or hand it to the cashier to pack, pay as normal. Receipt goes in that bag, along with receipts for any other items that go in the same bag as I shop. Go home, unpack bag, retrieve receipts.

elephantoverthehill · 11/10/2015 22:05

Osmiornica fair play. Just a few of them them I have stored stuff in have completely disintegrated.

MrsGentlyBenevolent · 11/10/2015 22:09

Really been trying to avoid these threads, but there are so many! I honestly don't remember any of this fuss when the charge came in to effect in Wales. Seriously - if there's any English people out there who's truly traumatised over this, I have a load of carrier bags to spare for free. More than welcome to give away some, like methadone for a heroin addict, slowly wean you off the plastic nasty until you learn to take a BfL or even a backpack with you to the shops. Heck, years ago my Grandad had cardboard boxes in the boot of this car just for the shopping. You'll get through this, stay strong!

Andro · 11/10/2015 22:43

Osmiornica - there are/were some places where biodegradable plastic bags were used (tesco and co-op among others). Still not particularly eco friendly, but definitely biodegradable. I'm not sure if they are still in iuse though.

Moln · 11/10/2015 22:56

I find it important to mention, because it hasn't yet on this thread, that the charge has been in Ireland for over a decade.

There was no way less fuss there than in Wales and Scotland, though I think someone in either Sligo or Mayo said '15c for a plastic bag?!! Jaysus!!'

ouryve · 11/10/2015 22:56

Oh FFS. How the hell is taking a bag or 3 to a shop so bloody complicated? Really? And if you do forget, a new bag is a whopping FIVE WHOLE PENCE!

We all did it when I was a kid. Some shops charged you 3p for a bag in the 70s!

JassyRadlett · 11/10/2015 23:05

Biodegradable bags aren't all they're cracked up to be. They have to have oxygen to biodegrade, so they won't do it in landfill. Research a few years ago showed that they took 2-5 years to biodegrade in the open - that's a long time for litter to be lying around. And when they do biodegrade, they don't just magically disappear - they leave behind all sorts of nasties that can still be harmful to the environment.

There's a reason that 'reduce' is the first thing to do to reduce waste. Reuse and recycle are a long way second.

ouryve · 11/10/2015 23:08

My experience of biodegradable bags is that you unthinkingly use one to store something, then go to fetch it out of the cupboard a year later and the whole bag turns to dust, in your hand, like a dead moth. Worst of both worlds, in that sense, because you can't actually re-use the bloody things.

slithytove · 12/10/2015 00:12

It's not about them only being 5p. It's about them not being a good thing to buy and therefore proper reusable bags, e.g. Cotton ones or backpacks are far better.

However that will be a change when clothes etc shopping, especially as for me they tend to be more off the cuff purchases than a big planned monthly shop.

I think the little fold up strawberry bags and the like are great and one will become a permanent fixture in my handbag just for clothes shopping.

EternalDalmatian · 12/10/2015 00:20

YABU.

If shops found the new legislation that difficult then they would have surely started using paper bags in Wales and Scotland already - but they haven't.

I also haven't got enough 's in the World for:
I can't juggle half a dozen small items at a till without a belt thingy , pay with my card, get out my reusable bag and pack it myself in less than about twice the time it takes to hand over goods , pay and recieve the ready packed bag. Not to mention putting the receipt in my purse as its not " in the bag from X shop" if I need it

Get out your reusable bag, heaven forbid. Instead of plucking a plastic bag from next to the tills, you pluck it from your handbag, or pocket, or wherever you choose to carry them. The remaining process is exactly the same. If you truly can't comprehend how this is actually no fucking different then I fear for you crossing the road tbh.

LindyHemming · 12/10/2015 01:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Spartak · 12/10/2015 01:29

I used to work in that Asda in Dundee. It wasn't the most salubrious of areas. The loo seats got pinched on one occasion.

I was also working in Asda in Wales when the charge came in there. Anyone who says there was no fuss wasn't working in retail. There was several weeks of abuse and whinging from people who could afford to spend £100 a week on groceries but not 30p on the bags to take it home. At the time Cardiff council was giving our free green sacks for recycling. A fair few people used to come in and fill them up with shopping with a smug grin on their face. All died down fairly quickly though. No amount of whining at the cashiers was going to get you a free bag.

Moln · 12/10/2015 07:49

Anyone claiming there was no fuss means they didn't mind too much personally, bit like the 53,000,00 plus other people in England, but looking at it like that doesn't suit them or they'd miss the opportunity to be disparaging and feel superior.

DingbatsFur · 12/10/2015 07:59

Yeesh, just remember to bring your own bags.
:)

AnnaMarlowe · 12/10/2015 08:12

'Touchy' aj* ?

I'm not sure how? My post was completely sincere.

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