OMG 5p Charge for Plastic bags!

Efour

Efour

Efour

Caporegime
Joined
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Location
Norrbotten, Sweden.
Well finally in England we are going to be charged a fee for our plastic carrier bags, much like the rest of the civilised world and EVEN Wales has been doing it for ages.

Read it here courtesy of BBC

Does anyone who shops not already use their own bags?
I hope they improve the quality of the bags for 5p. The last ones i got from Sainsbury were like 1 micron thick and split when i waved my cucumber at them. I digress, that's a whole 'nother tale for a later date.

Im all for charging for them at least this way the money can be used for environmental clean up projects, or to fund nefarious political agendas!!!
 
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M&S have been doing this for ages, but meh. Just have your own decent bags - Problem solved, no splitage, no raw fingers, less dead penguins (or something), so win win win
 
Yeah i hate walking down the road and tripping over dead, plastic wrapped penguins.
 
Doesn't work, last time I went on holiday all the supermarkets did this and all it meant was my bill each day was 5p more expensive because I'd rather pay that than have to walk about with plastic bags in my pocket.

The point is supposed to be to reduce the production of non biodegradable plastic bags but in many cases all it does is subsidise the shop's bag buying. Environmentalist types will continue the take their own bags (which they do now anyway) and the rest of us will just pay the money (so not reducing the number of plastic bags in circulation).

The solution is not to introduce a guilt charge (that's all this is) but to encourage companies to use biodegradable bags. Why not bring back paper bags?
 
I will be happy paying 5p for a plastic bag so i can carry some things i have bought when the government does something about the ludicrous amount of rubbish that gets posted through everyone's doors every day:

 
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Also, I find it funny how the BBC were quick to call a reduction in Housing Benefit a [bedroom] 'tax', yet they are calling this a 'charge'.

This is a carrier bag tax.
 
The money goes to charities, my local Tesco supports some local charity. Can't remember which one it is, but I was quite impressed that a 'local' charity got the cash from the 'local' supermarket if you see what I mean.
 
So this is probably due to the lobbying from the bin bag manufacturing companies as most people I know, including myself, just use any bags you get as bin bags once we get home. If we stop getting bags from the supermarket then we'll have to buy bin bags ....

Also anyone who has even put anything in a carrier bag in their garage for six months and then tried to pick it up knows that they bio-degrade very quickly anyway ...
 
Jono8 said:
I will be happy paying 5p for a plastic bag so i can carry some things i have bought when the government does something about the ludicrous amount of rubbish that gets posted through everyone's doors every day:

Click to expand...

Not only that but the stupid amount of junk that is stuck in with magazines. I do like how a lot if shops have a recycling tub for it but it is incredibly wasteful!
 
Jono8 said:
I will be happy paying 5p for a plastic bag so i can carry some things i have bought when the government does something about the ludicrous amount of rubbish that gets posted through everyone's doors every day:
Click to expand...

Domino's vouchers? Rubbish? Pah! Tis the only time il even consider them!
 
About time it happened here. We've been using reusable bags for quite some time and they get replaced for free if they get damaged. I do hope that the money really does go to charities and not end up as government income.
 
Good, the Government should legislate to reduce all types of packaging, it should be recyclable and/or biodegradable end of. Companies won't ever do it under there own steam so the Government should take the initiative.

They seem very quick to come up with "green" schemes that cost the consumer money, less quick when it has an impact on business.
 
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I am sure I remember reading somewhere that supermarket carrier bags are biodegradable but now everyone will buy bin bags and those things are not. Somewhere like Ireland now has a problem at land fill sites full of bin bags.
 
My usual shop is about 2-3 bags, maybe 2-3 times per week. So at most I'll be paying 45p extra per week. Hardly a deterrent. Still, I think it's a good idea. The last thing I need is to be tripping up on dead plastic wrapped penguins. ;)
 
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