To not use the little fruit and veg bags

[ObiJuanKenobi]

...at the super market that they provide at the end of the aisle?

DP has only just noticed I don't use them which he thinks is really weird.
I just think it's a waste of plastic if you wash your fruit and veg anyway.

Am I the only one?

I've stopped using the thin plastic bags as they are totally pointless. Pile the carrots/onions in a corner of the trolley. Group together on the belt. Whack in a bag.

it's not rocket science.

E coli and rats? Well I wasn't expecting that!

I never use them, they're pointless

I heard that the shopping trolleys and baskets themselves are covered in bacteria. I assume its from leaky meat packets etc and they never ever get cleaned, so it just builds up. If you wash your fruit and veg thoroughly or peel it, I suppose it doesnt matter, but I dont want to bring more germs into my food prep than I have to. I use the paper bags provided, mind you, my town has banned shops from supplying plastic bags (I live in the USA) so its paper or nothing

I have little bags that I use in Supermarket but normally go to the green-grocers who has old fashioned scales that he lines with paper when you buy and then pops it into a paper page or box.

It's disgusting to put food in them without any packaging.

Do you not peel your carrots and onions before eating them then? Or bananas?

Paper bags is definitely the answer I think for the little veg like sprouts. Would it cost a-lot more for supermarkets to make the change from plastic to paper?

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Live in Italy. Law just come into force that makes all plastic bags chargeable including fruit bags and bread bags, and that a free paper bag is the only other option. They can't give free plastic bags, it has to be itemised on your recent now. So now I get the paper bags (which do weigh a bit so you probably pay the same) which I reuse in my little composting bin. It's a good initiative but a bit impractical for frozen bread that then dissolved the paper bag!!!

Don't biodegradeable plastic bags need air or sunlight to biodegrade?

I also don't really bother with them. Can anyone shed light on why when I buy chicken (already packaged) the checkout staff are putting it in an additional plastic bag?

I don't use them either but I do use the paper ones for mushrooms, I hate unnecessary waste that's doesn't decompose. I know someone that takes extra Ones for dog poo bags so every little helps.

I never use the little plastic bags either. God knows there's enough plastic tat in the world due to me, I don't need to consume any more of it unnecessarily.

Paper bags are the way forward.

I use them as does every person I've seen in the supermarket.

The thought of faffing around with apples rolling around on the scales, rolling around loose in the bottom of the bag etc. doesn't appeal.

Although, now that I know so many of you aren't using yours I'll double bag to prevent splits....

People put their children in the trolley with shoes on or their dogs or their Sholley things with dirty wheels. Rats crawl all over them. It's disgusting to put food in them without any packaging.

@TreeOfHearts and just imagine, those filthy framer types grow carrots and stuff in filthy soil!! Ugh!

I’m with you, piffle

sw2102 every so often there's a panicky news headline about all the bacteria on the outside of chicken packaging, so I wonder if that's why

tree blimey. People are weird!

I don't know why the supermarkets don't use paper bags for fruit & veg.
I remember as a small girl going to the greengrocers with my DM & everything was either loose (cauliflower, cabbage,bananas etc) or in paper bags (potatoes, carrots, onions etc.)
Anyone remember that you could buy dirty or clean carrots? The dirty ones were cheaper.

Has anyone who worries about shopping trolleys ever seen a farm tractor?

(But I do hate it when people put kids in the trolly, or their scooters, or whatever. It is selfish and needlessly dirty.)

I agree Sw2102. I always try to refuse extra bags for already packaged meat but sometimes the cashiers are too zealous!

and just imagine, those filthy framer types grow carrots and stuff in filthy soil!! Ugh!

They don't grow them in dogshit and baby vomit though....

Has anyone who worries about shopping trolleys ever seen a farm tractor?

Ironically it's only the "organic" produce that tends to be there covered in mud & muck. The normal fruit & veg gets washed as part of the process....

I always put my veg loose in the trolley - it won't run away and it's perfectly easy just to pick it up and put it together on the conveyor belt! I wash and peel it so it doesn't matter. I don't use the plastic bags for dog poo because they don't degrade - I get specific eco biodegradable poo bags for that.

People put their children in the trolley with shoes on or their dogs or their Sholley things with dirty wheels. Rats crawl all over them. It's disgusting to put food in them without any packaging.

If this was such a concern, then we should stop putting any food - including packaged food - in them. For instance, eating a bag of crisps normally involves touching the outside of the bag before then touching the food. If contact with the trolley is such a concern then we should be washing crisp packets before we touch them. But no one does.