People still buying bags when shopping

[Auburngal]

It's 8.5 years since the bag charges were introduced in England (Oct 4 2015) and longer for other parts of the UK. My friend's DS was born on that day and she has pointed out he was born on the same day bag charges were introduced in England and people are shocked.

Why do people still not come shopping without bags? See the same faces most days at work buying bags. "Left the bags in the car" - pack at the car then!

If people buy on average 10 bags at 30p each per week at supermarkets, shops like B&M, Poundland - that's £156 a year. People don't look at the price as a whole they think "its only 30p".

Then see people down my road using brand new carrier bags for rubbish. Bin bags are cheaper (per unit), bigger and able to tie them up properly.

Then my work is opposite a few other shops - see customers buy two items and buy a bag from us when they have room in another shop's bag they just purchased from. What's that about?

The number of times I have bought bags is in single figures. For example - buying a coat - none of the bags I had were big enough. Brought 2 bags with me and one broke - it wasn't the retailer's bag in question. So couldn't get the replacement free.

Please stop buying bags. Fold one up inside your handbag. I am ok with those who bought more than they intend and don't have room in their own bags they have brought with them.

Taking your own bags is a simple way to help with CoL.

You have no idea where i go on holidays.

Someone posted a commented on here earlier about marine life being killed by plastic bags, as they ate it.

This thread makes me despair of people, they just don't care.

I don't think I've ever taken my own bags shopping. I always buy bags when I'm there.
It doesn't even cross my mind to take them

Discarded fishing nets kill a lot of marine life. I take it you are vegan too?

Are you the OP?!

The OP is absolutely obsessed with other people’s habits, specifically in shops. It’s a fascinating AS.

No, because that’s not how threads work.

If you hadn’t been smugly browbeating other posters for the whole thread (even those who are actually not even buying bags to carry things home but you’re horrified their methods don’t exactly match yours), bossing everyone around, exuding faux-distress at the thought of a carrier bag and accusing people of ‘not caring’ I wouldn’t have called you out. But if you’re gonna dish it out then be prepared to take it. You’re a hypocrite and you have no defence for your hypocrisy.

Maybe think twice before relentlessly attacking people next time. You can’t skate by in life treating people like that and getting no push back

I buy them and feel embarrassed but I use the bags I collect for lots of things. People walking out with their shopping without bags just seems wrong.

You were happy to accuse people of things that they were not. But you actually ARE a hypocrite.
Who’s the horrible person here?

here’s the evidence if anyone wants it. Takes two plane journeys just 18 months ago but boo-hoo’s over another person not carrying a tote bag around.

I never buy plastic bags but I'm addicted to the linen or canvas bags with a print of the shop on it, especially bookshops 😊 I buy those all the time, but to be fair I do use and re-use them constantly! Not only for shopping but also for packing luggage!

Also made you didn’t know me when you accused me of not caring about the environment just because I said litter bugs create litter not people buying carrier bags.

I at least holiday only in the UK, largely because I want to support local businesses and largely because I want to do my bit for the world my grandkids will be inhabiting one day.

My carbon footprint will be a fraction of yours

Do you care about the air pollution and damage to wildlife and birds that your plane travel causes?

@Mademetoxic not ignorant just a realist. having lived in so many countries i can honestly say the uk seems very clean. people buying bags for life are not throwing them on grassy areas hun. they are using them in their bins and sending their kids to school with them holding their gym kits.
Unless airplanes are grounded, bombs are stopped, lithium batteries banned, hydrogen cars are put on the roads etc then a plastic bag is not going to make the slightest bit of difference to the Earths existence. Not when 90% of countries are still using single use

People 'know' what you've posted on this thread and past threads, which is what they're basing their opinions on.

If on past threads you've discussed utilising air travel - which massively harms the environment - then, on this thread, loudly condemned those who use carrier bags, for harming the environment, then that, unfortunately for you, IS a hypocritical stance to take. Especially since the impact of air travel is much, MUCH worse!

People aren't 'horrible' for pointing that out.

Because millions of us suffer from executive dysfunction... don't you think if we could be less forgetful we would?

I don't ENJOY spending money but given I'm not a hamster (pouches) or octopus (8 bloody arms) I have to get stuff home some how and shops aren't big on people nicking their baskets/trollys.

I mean I can't auto learn basic routines I have been doing all my life like brushing my teeth or taking my medication so 'its been 8 years' means fuck all to the task I can't remember.

TBH doing an AS on that poster is slightly depressing and their username is spot on. They appear to hate children, most people, anyone who learns to drive at 17 (because they didn’t get the chance til they were 23) and poor people who want to take their children on holiday. And now apparently people who put their shopping on their pockets and not a tote bag

i usually buy shopping on my way home without planning. SonI should only buy what my tote can carry😬. Tbh i rarely need to buy bags. But OP let’s talk about all the other areas you create waste shall we?

Your assumption is those twats people are just wasting everywhere. And also that they don’t care. I rarely see people buying bags. And for good reason… see image…

YANBU - I never buy bags. I steal them.

So because I’m peri-menopausal and get serious brain fog, despite the fact I try and leave shopping bags in the boot I get to the shops and realise for whatever reason they’re at home.

Despite some people thinking I should I don’t feel guilty self flaggelate because I’m not a neurotic weirdo.

However I find that when you get to the till finding a carrier bag is like finding the holy grail and shops seem to hide them from customers. Very annoying, and I’m not spending £1 on a large bag

I do my main supermarket shops online. Any other shopping that I do is usually unplanned so I have to buy a bag if it’s not something I can carry loose to the car 😮. I would say I buy closer to 10 bags a year than 10 bags a week so I hope you’re not too disappointed in me OP 😂

The whole point of social media is to tell other people off. It's beyond tedious when it's this petty.

You must have different rain in the UK to anyone else then. I don't drive and frequently carry things in a bag - including paper - without getting them unduly wet, and I daresay I am walking further to my home than you are to a bus or train stop (we aren't fortunate enough to have public transport in my town).

This thread has been an eye opener to me as I really thought banning single use plastic bags would be a worldwide thing - it's beginning to look as though the countries doing this are very much in the minority. Btw everyone moaned here when it was first mentioned, but we very soon adapted and the majority of people (in my town anyway) bring their own bags. If they don't the only options are a (strong) paper bag, a (strong) fabric bag, or buy one of the jute bags which supermarkets generally have for sale. If you are in another type of shop it's a paper bag or nothing.

@IloveAslan really - you've never had clothes from Primark get wet in the paper bag when it's pouring with rain and then the bag eventually falling apart? Or a book from Waterstones get wet through the bag?
You must be lucky. The rain recently has been incredibly heavy (flooding in some places). A Primark paper bag does not survive that. To be honest the Primark bags are fairly easy to the rip anyway. Attempting to get down the aisle of a crowded bus or through a crowd often ends up with the bag just getting knocked against and then it rips.
(Waterstones bags are a bit tougher - but unfortunately not waterproof).
Oh and just because I have access to public transport doesn't mean I won't be carrying the bags for hours. Walking around a large shopping mall from shop to shop takes a long time !

I agree, this rant is utterly pointless

@Auburngal Im with you. I have bought only about 5 in 10+ years. I take a fold up reusable one with me almost everywhere I go. And bigger ones if Im likely to end up needing a larger one. So easy to do and so much less waste involved.
Im shocked so many on this thread think its fine not to bother. Yes there is an eco cost to the reusable ones too but Ive reused mine over and over again and will continue to do so. Plus they are much nicer to use than a plastic bag.

Well we do take the big reusable things for the big shop, but the thinner ones? I use them for things and run out of them, like passing on clothes etc. so I do buy more as they are useful. Also many people have adhd and will easily forget to bring them.