The Carrier Bag Scandal

[westlondoncarparts]

The logic behind the legislation is that historically plastic bags have not been bio-degradable so have an adverse impact upon the environment when not disposed of properly. Whilst I am all for looking after the environment, my reality is that when I take my plastic bags to the local recycling centre, they are stuffed full of cellophane and plastic food packaging. In other words over 95% of my cellophane and plastic wrapping waste is not the carrier bags. It seems illogical therefore to legislate over carrier bags and not over all the other food packaging. Rather than charge for carrier bags which has no impact upon all the plastic used in the other food packaging, it would have been much better to legislate for all food packaging and carrier bags to be bio-degradable and not to bring in the charges.

[countryfeedback87]

Don't know what the law will be in England, but in Scotland there are virtually no exemptions. So for your market and car boot activities you will need to start looking at charging for carriers (if they are new carriers bought by you specifically to give to your customers), ones that you are reusing can still be given away for free..

Wow, that is unbelievable. Will the suppliers of the bags have to pay? For example I usually buy 200 bags every month or so during the warmer months, by that reckoning the supplier should have to charge me an extra 5p per bag!

How is it policed in Scotland?

[PetBazaar]

Wow, that is unbelievable. Will the suppliers of the bags have to pay? For example I usually buy 200 bags every month or so during the warmer months, by that reckoning the supplier should have to charge me an extra 5p per bag!

How is it policed in Scotland?

Suppliers don't charge as they are selling you a box of packaged carriers (I buy in boxes of 1000 at a time). It's at the point where it's given to the customer for the express purpose of carrying their purchases were the charge is levied.

From what I can see, it isn't policed. But that's not to say that you wouldn't receive a visit from whoever is responsible for policing. At my local market trading standards do the rounds regularly so it's entirely possible that they may flag you up.

Fortunately with pet treats there are a few exemptions, in that someone buying an unpackaged bone or pigs ears or loose treats can be given a smaller bag for free (if it's used solely for the unpackaged food). That's usually ok if they've only got a couple of items, but if they then want to place that into a carrier then it's 5p.

Having said that, I would say that 50% of my customers now turn up with their own bags. And only a handful of the remainder object to paying.


If anyone is in the same boat here's some guidance (obviously Scottish, but presumably similar to what you can expect) with information on exemptions and requirements.

http://carrierbagchargescotland.org....Regulation.pdf

[TonyBridger]

Can't see why they don't bring back paper bags. They may not be up to the full weekly shop, but for those 'unplanned' shopping excursions where you don't think to take a bag along they would do. The technology exists to make a strong bag out of little material nowadays. Everything came in a paper bag when I was a kid (Yes, paper had been invented then).

I noticed that in the link given in post #2 shops also have to charge for "single use" paper bags.

[moonwitch]

Amazing! Why is it the youngsters who appear to be behind the times?

As has already been said, England is to catch up in this year. M&S food has charged for several years. Dictatorship? Not at all...it's called "encouragement".

Yep...when I was to-ing and fro-ing between Portsmouth and Brighton last year I paid for bags at the food hall in Brighton station and had no issue at all with it. Any initiatives to reduce the carrier bag wastage is fine by me.

[TonyBridger]

Just wondering. What do Tesco, etc, use for delivering groceries ordered online in Scotland & Wales

i buy from Ocado here in England and they deliver their items in reuseable bags which the drivers collect back on the following delivery

[suesjools]

The logic behind the legislation is that historically plastic bags have not been bio-degradable so have an adverse impact upon the environment when not disposed of properly. Whilst I am all for looking after the environment, my reality is that when I take my plastic bags to the local recycling centre, they are stuffed full of cellophane and plastic food packaging. In other words over 95% of my cellophane and plastic wrapping waste is not the carrier bags. It seems illogical therefore to legislate over carrier bags and not over all the other food packaging. Rather than charge for carrier bags which has no impact upon all the plastic used in the other food packaging, it would have been much better to legislate for all food packaging and carrier bags to be bio-degradable and not to bring in the charges.

This sounds sensible to me. Like Ash, I reuse my bags as well, they always do double duty as trash bags, which is convenient/easy, plus it saves me buying trash bags which can be rather pricey IMHO. I really like the biodegradable approach, making bags biodegradable solves the waste problem without inconveniencing the consumer.

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[emmily121]

I won't pay to advertise any shop. Walking around with a bag showing a shops name and logo is advertising, so I won't pay for a carrier bag.
If we're shopping in a shop that charges for carrier bags, such as Aldi or Lidl, we take our own bags (though as Lidl is 5 minutes walk away we're more likely to take our shopping trolley).

I always have a folding butterfly bag in my main butterfly bag, though don't use it if a free carrier bag is an option, it's just there for if it's needed.

We recycle carrier bags as bin liners, they are the perfect size, so eventually we will run out of carrier bags and have to buy bin liners. Hmm I've got 9 months to get stocked up on free carrier bags to use as bin liners...

I didn't know about the new law from October, now I do know, I'll get some more folding bags to carry with me later in the year. Sounds like a good excuse to purchase a larger main butterfly bag than the small over body bag and satchel I currently use, though not at the same time.

[asktricia]

I carry a couple of eBid bags in my handbag, they fold up quite nicely and hold quite a bit of shopping. I have also been asked 'what is eBid'.

Tricia

[tonyreddevil]

Thats Useful Advertising Inadvertly.