To find it mildly annoying that 5p bags are disappearing?

[sharkirasharkira]

Just that really.

I don't have an issue with the bag charge, I think it's good to encourage people to use them less.

I don't take plastic bags to the supermarket because I have a backpack that I use but sometimes I like to buy a few because they do come in handy for 'stuff' like lining small bathroom bins, separating wet swimming stuff, things like that.

But virtually every supermarket around here doesn't seem to have them anymore! They have replaced them all with massive, thick 10p bag for life types which are not so good for certain tasks.

Aibu to wish they would just keep both types so we can choose?

Is it not as cheap, or even cheaper to buy a roll of small bin liners if you have to use single use plastic bags, rather than the carrier bags?

The less plastic the better, I say!

YANBU! They’ve being really cheeky and against the spirit of the law.

They’re

Buy food bags or a roll of small white bin bags. It's not rocket science

All plastic bags should be stopped. The damage to the environment is shocking.

How did people manage before supermarkets made insane plastic consumption the norm?

"How did people manage before supermarkets made insane plastic consumption the norm?"

Disposable carriers became the norm very quickly after supermarkets became more common. Before that, for shopping, people used bags or baskets, and for big shops they would use cardboard boxes (old packaging) that supermarkets would leave out for that purpose. The massive shop was less of a thing, as there were far more SAHMs (it was all changing in the 1970s)

For wet things that needed transposition, you would use a swimming bag (there was one orangey/red one which seemed to have cornered the market for school and club swimming and as they were indestructible, people used them for ages. Floppier nylon bags were around as well, and my DMum still uses hers.

Bins were often unlined, and oozing stuff would be wrapped in newspaper before being put straight into the outdoor dustbin. More homes had fireplaces and a lot of stuff was burned.

YANBU this is why I was against the charge, things only get more expensive, wait until they start costing 50p per bag.

YABU. Here's a radical idea, how about buying a roll of bin liners for your bin?!

Yes go to a pound shop and buy a roll of carrier bag size bags. Probably 100 bags at least to a roll so works out cheaper.
I don't think paying 5p 'extra' for a bag was making people change their ways at all. Infact I regularly see the stronger £1 bags (which have quite pretty designs) shoved in wheely bins or stuffed under a bush or dumped by a public bin - usually full of rubbish that at least half could be recycled.

Just buy a roll of pedal bin liners. That's what I've done although I try not to use many of them. The last roll I bought has lasted over 6 months and I still have loads left.

The less plastic the better in the world. Most of these bags end up wrapped around poor wildlife in the ocean. :-( I'm glad to see the back of them. Hopefully 10p ones will vanish too.

I buy a roll of small bin liners for the rubbish but am considering stopping that as well, for the rest I use durable bags that last for my shopping. There is too much waste and I am applauding the reduction of plastic.

What I don't get is this: the 5p bags used to be biodegradable (at least tescos ones) - I know gor a fact because after a year or so they disintegrated into dust.
Now that they are disappearing and I need to get a bag all am abke to buy is a bag for life - where is the sense in that?? Surely a bag for life does exactly what it says on the tin and will still be around in 50 million years! This seems crazy to me but nobody else seems to have picked up on it.
For the record: I never ever buy a bag now. But it still seems crazy to me.

@summersb why not spend a little more and buy some rattan/heavy duty ones and they'll last you years! You should see the bizarre multitude of bags I go shopping with. Big Sports Direct ones, cloth ones from yours, Primark £1 jobs. Couldn't tell you the last time I bought a plastic bag!

TBH I so rarely buy them that I wouldn't really have need for a big roll - I empty the small bins into the big bin and leave the bag lining it, unless it gets a hole or something and needs to be replaced. Same with other stuff, unless I really have to I just keep it and reuse it. The other bigger bags are just too big for a lot of things, feels like complete overkill!

@SummersB I thought that too - doesn't the fact that they are biodegradable make them better and less harmful than the big ones?

one major problem is that the thicker bags have to be used something like 100 times to make it worth it. and people use them maybe 4 times or whatever, if that.
we really should be stopping all the plastic bags, using recycled paper or re-used cloth bags, and not wrapping so much fruit and veg in plastic too. it's shocking.
what's the benefit of buying bin liner bags compared to re-using supermarket bags? aren't they all just plastic - why buy new if you can re-use? (unless there is something better about bin liner bags?)

I use a cloth bag in the supermarkets. Buy a roll of bin liners for your bathroom, as you've been advised, and use a 'proper' swimming bag which will last years.

I don't think paying 5p 'extra' for a bag was making people change their ways at all

Statistics suggest otherwise. Quote:

"Our data indicates that the 7 main retailers issued around 83% fewer bags (over 6 billion bags fewer) in 2016 to 2017 compared to the calendar year 2014 (for which WRAP reported data). This would be equivalent to each person in the population using around 25 bags during 2016 to 2017, compared to around 140 bags a year before the charge."

Biodegradable bags are still harmful. The plastic has to go somewhere.

I bought myself one of these to keep in the car boot (folds flat). I go into the shop, use it as a basket as I walk round, empty contents on to belt and refill it the other side. DH laughed at me but eventually conceded it was a good idea.

I did use bags for bin liners, but then started to buy them on a roll instead, mostly because Ocado pay me 5p for any bag I hand back

Isn't the idea that is they're twice as expensive people will think twice about not bothering to reuse them ?

here you go. Cheaper than the supermarket 5p bags.
I reuse bags where possible - for the bathroom bin I use the toilet roll packaging for example. But I do agree that in some ways the change has not been great. As a pp said, Tesco old carrier bags fell into dust after about a year, whereas bags for life are completely different and last. I also think it's daft that we are not able to use those biodegradable bags to carry home our shopping, yet our local authority will only collect our rubbish if it has been out into black dustbin bags. And as we have to buy our own, there is no incentive to spend out on biodegradable ones, if they even exist. Even our recycling has to be bagged into a different coloured bin liner which we Ha e to get from the authority - they won't take it if it's not in 'their' bag!

To line small bins etc I just use empty plastic packaging e.g. from a large pack of toilet rolls, delivery bag from Next etc. The amount of packaging on supermarket items is appalling.
I'm Irish and we've had the 5p charge for bags for years now and I can't actually remember the last time I paid for a bag. Reusable hessian bags live in the car boot and a fold up fabric one in my bag. Easy.