Plastic bags, surely you should only use them if you NEED them

[Lorayn]

I have just got back from my local tesco metro and was extremely annoyed by the three people in front of me, one bought a loaf of bread and a pint of milk, another a newspaper and a loaf of bread, and the third a bottle of water and a sandwich (wonder if her 'healthy lunch had aspartame in it?).
ALL 3 customers put their purchases in a plastic bag, and two of them then got in their car.
Surely we should only be using carrier bags when our hands are full?
I used to work in a bakery and was amazed by how many people wanted a bag for a small cake and a roll, so much so I started refusing regular lunchtime customers carrier bags with less than four items and when three or four people came in from the same office I'd let them have one bag between them.
I'm known for getting a bee in my bonnet but I really don't think laziness constitutes the damage plastic bags actually do.
Carrier bags should be for use if you have no other way to carry something, and then reused when possible. (Actually reuse them though, rather than collect them in the cupboards like I do!!)

But, houseofhormones, you could buy degradable nappy sacks instead.

Probably could but I am on a limited budget, so I use what i can ie free carriers

And I am finding it ironic that anyone uses degradable nappy sacks......the sack goes away but the nappy doesn't? I didn't use nappy sacks for my children, disposables just got put in home bin, or put in bag until we got home (used cloth nappies most of the time anyway)

I've purchased a hemp bag from Tesco (you can get them in all the supermarkets now) and I take that everywhere, and it's cute with ladybugs on it

I collect the plastic bags that our food deliveries come in and have the driver take them back to the store with him for recycling (yup, I'm that lazy, but we don't have a recycling point in walking distance and I don't drive)

Most of the time I ask NOT to have a bag from shops and get really strange looks from the staff (I just say that it'll go in the basket of the pushchair, as long as I get a receipt I don't mind if they're going to stop me, it might look a bit dodgy with clothes with tags hanging out of the bottom of the pushchair and I'm not the most trustworthy looking person. . . . Bloomin Hippy!! )

It's not that much effort really, especially for a couple of items like that!! If I worked in a supermarket I'd only give them a bag if they really needed it, they'd even have to justify it to me and give me their word that they'd recycle it!! LOL Bloomin Hippy

I like the Irish system

I got that to Kyala! DD was desperate as she loves ladybirds!

tesco are doing a new one for 70p its black, with a hard type bottom and plastic tube handles, really big and strong! got one yesterday when i yet again forgot my own ones!

I usually say 'no bag thanks' in shops as most of the time i take my own.
However I am very cynical of Sainsbury's etc selling their re-usable fabric bags at I think up to £2.50, the market traders near me all clubbed together to have some made and they sold them at cost - £1 as a marketing thing. When you think of the millions of these bags that sainsbury's can order, they must be able to purchase them for a lot less - so they are even making profit out of us for saving them providing as many plastic bags!
BTW where are these bags made? I bet there are a LOT of bag miles there... and sweatshop labour making them...

I had one of those, Sleepless. The handle broke the first time I used it

agree with you to an extent......but how do you know that they wouldn't then have to carry the said items when they got out of the car???

I agree with someone down the thread that the Sainsburys fold up bags are brilliant. I now carry one round with me everywhere and I can use it in most situations.

In all the big hypermarkets we went to in France NONE of them gave out any plastic bags. Not any. Everyone, and that means all sorts of people, young, old, familieis, posh, not so posh,just bought their own bags with zero fuss. They were reusing old plastic bags, some had big baskets, all sorts.

Was fantastic. Why cant we have that here?

I can understand possibly if you are just popping into a shop (but even then its so easy to have a cloth bag on you) but if you are purposefully going to the supermarket surely theres no excuse not to bring your own?

Message withdrawn

I recently bought one of these and I think it's brilliant. It folds up even smaller than an umbrella and I just keep it in my handbag and use it for small bits of shopping so I don't need to take a plastic bag.

It's mildly disturbing to think that a MNer might be behind me in a queue judging me on my use of plastic bags

If i am doing my shopping by taxi i re-use carriers til they get big holes, but when using the pushchair i have a few long handled fabric shopping bags stuffed into the changing bag. I used to view it as a problem, but i have found ways around it so when we do have to pay for all bags it won't be such a problem.

Well I think we should follow the French on this one.

And yes have been guilty of judging plastic bags users. But only those in big supermarkets who have obviously made a special trip there. How hard is it to just reuse your bags from last time?

I say i re-use my bags...i try to re-use my bags but i usually go out with the pushchair, but one day a week i get up (term time this is), feed baby, have breakfast, get dressed, dress baby, make sure dd1 and dd2 are ready for school, take dd1 and dd2 to school...go to asda, get shopping in trolley, go to counter....

....and find out i've forgotten the blardy bags again ...let alone sometimes forgetting the milk tokens and very rarely my entire purse with all the money in it!!!

We went to france last August and I'm still using the plastic bags I bought there. Can't believe they've lasted a full year! We'll be in Ireland this year and I'll be taking my bags with me. I just put them back in the car after I've unpacked my shopping. I also keep one or two in my handbag if I'm just in town for a few things. Occasionally I have forgotten to take them and I give myself a bit of a guilt trip. I usually need a few extra bags when I do a big shop though, but those just go in my household wastepaper baskets, so get re-used anyway. I'm all for the European way. People would definitely start to remember their bags if they had to pay for them. Don't think i've ever seen anyone shopping in Aldi that doesn't bring their own, so the big supermarkets could easily follow suit.

It's suprising that a lot of shop assistants look suprised when you say you don't want a bag & are happy to put things into the same bag
(although I must admit I would feel odd if I bought clothes from a shop & put them into a different bag )

Yes, it's annoying...especially if they don't ask and just bung one small item into a bag without you wanting it.

I live in Ireland and we have a plastic bag levy, which really does encourage you to use your own bags.

I use several baskets for food shopping and never use plastic carriers at all.

Tis good for the enviroment.

My cloth baby Bookstart bag is still going strong several years down the line (dd has a small pull along suitcase thingy to store her library books in) so I'm free to use the bag for my shopping . Much nicer than plastic bags advertising random high st shops for free IMHO.