to tell everyone to return the Tesco Bags For Life

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Can we talk about Tesco's Bags For Life because it's pissing me off.

So, everyone agrees that people using and chucking away carrier bags is an issue. Awesome! Government introduces a charge on all plastic bags. Tesco still offers the 5p bags but also 10p bags for life that they promise to replace forever. Good strong bags, nice strong handles. Great!

A while later they quietly get rid of the 5p bags. Fine.

Except now, having clearly realised that most people don't care enough to return a 10p bag, they've changed the design of the Bags For Life. Gone are the nice strong separate handles, instead we have holes in the bag itself which are nowhere near as strong. The plastic itself is much thinner. I've had these die after one use on some occasions. Yes, it's only 10p but it's also one more useless piece of plastic which I'm sure is because they know no-one will call them on their Bags for Life guarantee -- and the amount who do isn't enough to cost them more than they save with cheap nasty bags.

I agree. We have the hessian ones that live in the boot. We went shopping this week and remembered when we got to Tesco that we currently have a courtesy car and our bags are in our car at the garage so had to buy 4 bags for life... 2 of which snapped carrying the shopping into the house

Another one who used to use free bags as bin liners, and now has to buy bin liners...

I have a couple of bags that fold up into tiny pouches that live in my handbag, and a big stash of the Sainsburys 50p Big Orange Buggers that are folded up inside a cool bag in the car for when I do a bigger shop. The BOBs are fantastic: seemingly indestructible, hold shedloads, mega strong and their square flat bottoms makes them very stable so they don't spill their contents all over the back of the car. We also have a couple that get used as laundry bags when we go away in the motorhome, so I can bring the dirty clothes in and chuck them straight in the wash.

I refuse to use those ghastly cheapo Tesco "Bag for Life" - the cutout handles dig into your hand. Sainsbury's also make their bags like this.

I use reusable cloth/hessian bags all the time so I don't feel bad about buying an extra B4L from time to time. I'll stick to Waitrose from now on.

On a tangent, BUT, If you are going to use a plastic bag multiple times, it might be sensible to regularly clean the inside.

I heard some scary information about what "lives" in these bags, especially in the corners!

I dont pay for the 10p bags in tesco. I just take bunch when I'm doing my scan and shop. I spend enough in tescos every week I'm not paying for the bag as well!

Spending money in a shop doesn’t entitle you to steal stuff 🙄

Alright then 😂

Gladys123 I won’t lie, I did this today.

👍glad I'm not the only criminal 😁

Yeah, fuck the environment. Glad you got you 50ps worth of plastic bags. That’ll show the fuckers.

30p actually. I didn’t have enough money and had limited shopping as it was. Stupidly forgot the reusable bags so did what I did. They won’t miss them I’m sure.

Well done. You really socked it to The Man there with your rebellious stealing of plastic bags. A veritable Wat Tyler for the 21st century.

Fuck the turtles and the planet, right?

GorgonLondon Are you ok?

I agree with you that Tesco are bastards. This is but one of many many reasons why they are very unethical. I think it's worth highlighting but I don't expect they will ever change their whole business philosophy to become more ethical - nor do I expect society to spontaneously change to there being more people who make their shopping choices based on ethics rather than convenience.

What we should do is lobby our MPs to legislate further and require all supermarkets to offer a genuinely eco bagging option (cardboard/paper/biodegradable bag) at the tills which must be the cheapest per volume capacity compared to the other options there by at least say 30% - such that people will naturally choose the eco option.

By the way - top diagram. You could probably fit at least 20 decent bag-for-life bags (if folded rather than scrunched) into each of the voids under the front passenger seat and driver seat.

What we should do is lobby our MPs to legislate further and require all supermarkets to offer a genuinely eco bagging option (cardboard/paper/biodegradable bag) at the tills which must be the cheapest per volume capacity compared to the other options there by at least say 30% - such that people will naturally choose the eco option.

Yeah, or you could, you know, bring a bag with you.

They defo do miss them. They are counted.
A large portion of the money for them goes to charity aswell, so they are counted. It’s law to charge for them. It’s also stock and although it may seem silly, it is stealing still.
Under the definition of theft, by law.

Lovely diagram. But where does the shopping go?

I recommend these (mine are an older colour, I’ve had them about 10 years).

www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/ikea-family-products/travel/knalla-carrier-bag-red-white-art-80330493/

They fold up much smaller than a plastic bag the same size. I know they aren’t natural fabric like hessian or cotton, but still better than plastic bags and far more durable.

Asda does compostable cloth bags. The check-out lady told me she actually composted hers and it decayed and just a bit of string sewing thread was left. That's recycling!

Notevilstepmother -- honestly, on my older son's lap if not heavy, or in the No Man's Land between them or balanced on top ofthe pram seat and held on by a seat belt. It's usually only "Ah crap, we need milk, don't we?" situations so not a ton of bags and a tetris situation is bearable for the ten minutes it takes to get home. Less bearable for all day every day "just in case" you need hessian bags.

(Anyone reading this and expecting your first child... SUZUKI ALTOS DO NOT GO WITH JANE PRAMS, YOU UTTER NUTTER. LEARN FROM MY TERRIBLE MISTAKES which I can never admit was a mistake because 4 years ago I swore blind to my husband there would be no issues ;) )

GorgonLondon - the point you seem to be missing is that if someone reads this and brings a bag with them they've saved one lot of bags. If they lobby their MP, change occurs and the default cheapest and most convenient option becomes a genuinely ecologically friendly option then that's a whole lot more bags.

I mean you can look down your nose and be sniffy if you want, but change sometimes has to come down from the top if it's to work.

I wonder if it's worth drawing tesco's attention to the thread somehow.

My husband has just got back from Morrison's with a free bag for life as they are no longer doing the 5p bags from tomorrow :-(
5 P on a thin but of plastic i can use the get my shopping home if I've been caught without bags walking home from work bought more than I can ram in my handbag and then use as a bin liner rather than buying them seems much lest wasteful than a thick 10p bag which is still going to only get used once before ending up as a bin liner, wouldn't it be better to still have the thin biodegradable one? I don't mind paying 10p for a bag, it just seems a waste of resources for it to end up as a bin liner, give me the thin ones for 10p.
For all those saying why only use it once, I've attached a picture of my drawer of reusable bags. I need another bag for life like a hole in the head!!!!
(The drawer is as deep as the staircase and rammed so full of the woven style bags and cotton bags it hard to shut! There are a load in the car too before you ask)

My husband has just got back from Morrison's with a free bag for life as they are no longer doing the 5p bags from tomorrow :-(
5 P on a thin but of plastic i can use the get my shopping home if I've been caught without bags walking home from work bought more than I can ram in my handbag and then use as a bin liner rather than buying them seems much lest wasteful than a thick 10p bag which is still going to only get used once before ending up as a bin liner, wouldn't it be better to still have the thin biodegradable one? I don't mind paying 10p for a bag, it just seems a waste of resources for it to end up as a bin liner, give me the thin ones for 10p.
For all those saying why only use it once, I've attached a picture of my drawer of reusable bags. I need another bag for life like a hole in the head!!!!
(The drawer is as deep as the staircase and rammed so full of the woven style bags and cotton bags it hard to shut! There are a load in the car too before you ask)

That diagram is SUPERB. “Footwell. FOR LEGS” is my favourite part.

Do Tesco not replace their 5p/10p/whatever bags for free? Sainsbury’s do