The Carrier Bag Scandal

[damian_steele]

It also occurs to me that charging for carrier bags is actually likely to have the opposite to the desired effect. In the past many people would use their carrier bags to get the goods home, unpack and gather up the bags before sending the whole lot for recycling. Now, as each bag is charged for, they'll reuse each bag until one-by-one they fall apart. Most people are likely to then simply dump the individual bags into the bin as it is too much bother to gather up bits of bags and hold onto them until they have enough to make a recycling trip worth the bother.

Also, with Tesco carriers already being biodegradable the idea of keeping them out of landfill because of the time it take for them to break down becomes a moot point. It would have made far more sense had the government merely insisted that all single use bags, from all shops, were of the biodegradable variety and allowed people to continue using them as they are used to doing.

[squern]

Like a lot of other people, we save our plastic bags to use as bin liners. That contains the rubbish, is more hygeinic, and stops the light stuff from blowing all down the street when the bin is emptied.
Thus, the use of plastic bags reduces litter, and prevents the neccessity to buy bin liners, which are produced using power. That's proper recycling.

I'm very suspicious when the answer to any problem is either to tax it or throw money at it. Neither usually works.

[astral276]

I don't think it is so much a matter of litter. It's more that they are non-recyclable plastic. That means they end up going into landfill. Landfill is now very expensive (probably down to the EU) to deter its use. It makes sense to reduce the millions of carriers used. Even if you do reuse them as bin liners after the initial use they still then end up in landfill.

I still don't understand why it applies to paper bags also as they are fully recyclable. We should be heading back to how it was when I was a kid, when just about everything came in a paper bag. We should be cutting back on 'disposable' plastics across the board. Even recyclable plastics are not environmentally friendly.

[damian_steele]

I still don't understand why it applies to paper bags also as they are fully recyclable.

According to Tesco's website, it doesn't. They aren't charging for paper bags but they are limiting which goods will be placed in paper - fresh fruit and vegetables only.
The paper bags are also quite small and not the large sacks so often seen in American movies.

[astral276]

Digressing slightly to plastic packaging in general...

I find it a continuing annoyance, that after all this time that the recycling ethos has been promoted, how much plastic packaging is still not marked as to the type of plastic it is manufactured from.

To my understanding the type of plastics that can be recycled varies by area depending on the facilities available. In general, though, only types 1 (PET) and 2 (HDPE) can usually be processed, with type 3 (PVC) in a few areas. Other types can't be recycled as they are either a mix of plastics or the environmental impact to process is greater than that to dispose of.

Also, a lot of the plastic touted as biodegradable isn't; it breaks down to leave a toxic chemical residue. Only a couple of types break down to organic compounds.

[PetBazaar]

According to Tesco's website, it doesn't. They aren't charging for paper bags but they are limiting which goods will be placed in paper - fresh fruit and vegetables only.
The paper bags are also quite small and not the large sacks so often seen in American movies.

If it's anything like up here then paper bags won't be exempt.

What, I think, you're referring to is paper bags for the purpose of holding loose food. Those are exempt (as are plastic ones), but if you then put that bag into a larger paper bag at the checkout, you'd be charged for this second bag.

A prime example is McDonalds. If they drop your carton of fries into a bag, that's free, as the fries are regarded as loose food. But if they then put that bag into another one already containing your boxed burger then this larger bag is chargeable.

[tonyreddevil]

October 5th For England When Enlish Supermarkets Charge 5 pence.

[tony41]

October 5th For England When Enlish Supermarkets Charge 5 pence.

Yes. We know. That is what the entire thread is about.

[sogobuymugs]

Another tax imposed on the many by the few.

[PetBazaar]

If anyone's interested...

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/...1125397_en.pdf


And it seems that I was mistaken earlier, it looks like paper bags aren't included in your version.