Plastic bags

[starlight7]

I always wash mine. Otherwise they smell- especially milk containers etc. We have a weekly small bin collection for household waste and a fortnightly recyclable collection. The other fortnight is garden waste, weeds etc. ( we're not allowed to burn off here)

[MovingtoTasmania]

I always wash mine too as I get paranoid about maggots and flies. The fortnightly schedule is that paper waste and composting gets picked up one week, with general waste, plastics/tins and composting again the next week. So every week there are collections but it's just collecting different things.

[Skani]

So if the supermarkets ban plastic bags, what do people do for bin liners? Just go and buy them instead??

Personally id rather recycle plastic bags than buy normal plastic swing bin bags.. either way people still need to use plastic bags.

 

Cal x

 

I don't think I'm that old...:rolleyes:..but I do remember before plastic bags existed. Rubbish used to be wrapped in newspaper before being placed in the bin.

 

Re the original post: there's hardly anything revolutionary about charging for plastic bags. I can remember it being standard practice in Germany in the late 1980s.

[Fisher1]

Germany progressed from charging for bags to refusing to give them altogether by 2000. When I lived in Brussels (supermarket bags banned about seven years ago) I had a German colleague who used to ask me to bring plastic bags back from the UK for her mother in Karlsruhe.

 

Of course it isn't progress. It's an attempt to stem the tide of something like seven BILLION bags a year in the UK alone. They have just announced a ban to begin in England in 2015.

 

Can I ask people to bear in mind when shopping that the bag ban is not the responsibility of the assistant serving you? You wouldn't believe the rudeness that retail colleagues have had to tolerate since the ban started in Wales. This has included the following examples:

'I would imagine someone in a gents outfitters would have the wit to know whether a bag was necessary or not.'

 

'I pay my rates, and they go up every year!' (snatch paper parcel and stamp out)

 

'Well I got a bag in Chester yesterday!' (yes madam, Chester is in England)

 

'If you don't give me a bag you can keep (ten items, all wrapped) this lot and put it all back on the hangers.'

 

 

Whatever you may think, it's not the assistant's fault.

[MovingtoTasmania]

Germany progressed from charging for bags to refusing to give them altogether by 2000. When I lived in Brussels (supermarket bags banned about seven years ago) I had a German colleague who used to ask me to bring plastic bags back from the UK for her mother in Karlsruhe.

 

Of course it isn't progress. It's an attempt to stem the tide of something like seven BILLION bags a year in the UK alone. They have just announced a ban to begin in England in 2015.

 

Can I ask people to bear in mind when shopping that the bag ban is not the responsibility of the assistant serving you? You wouldn't believe the rudeness that retail colleagues have had to tolerate since the ban started in Wales. This has included the following examples:

'I would imagine someone in a gents outfitters would have the wit to know whether a bag was necessary or not.'

 

'I pay my rates, and they go up every year!' (snatch paper parcel and stamp out)

 

'Well I got a bag in Chester yesterday!' (yes madam, Chester is in England)

 

'If you don't give me a bag you can keep (ten items, all wrapped) this lot and put it all back on the hangers.'

 

 

Whatever you may think, it's not the assistant's fault.

 

Some people are unnecessarily rude and when one considers that these massive tote handbags are all the style nowadays, put your shopping in there if you're really stuck. My girls bought me a bag from Disney Store last year, complete with Mickey Mouse on (just what I always wanted!) and I use it everywhere now because it's huge and it's a shoulder bag. When we went to London for the weekend, it doubled as my overnight bag as well as handbag lol. (I did have to sneak my clothes in to the girls bags when they weren't looking however and used mine for PJ's etc).

[NicF]

The whole argument about using carrier bags for bin bags is ridiculous unless you are throwing away everything you buy. Think about it - if everything coming in to your home is in a carrier bag then why do you need all those carrier bags for bin bags unless you are throwing everything away? Assuming you don't throw everything away then eventually you would have a glut of surplus carrier bags and you would start filling your bins with said surplus carrier bags.

 

In my suburb of Adelaide we have a green bin for all food and garden waste. We can also put paper and cardboard that has been contaminated with food in this bin. ALL food waste goes in, including bones. The instructions for it say if it once grew it can go in the green bin. This is collected once a fortnight. We also have a recycling bin for anything that can be recycled, including clean paper, cardboard, plastic, cans etc. This also gets collected once a fortnight. We then have a general rubbish bin for anything else, although to be honest, once you take out all the compostable and recyclable stuff there isn't that much for the general bin. We use bin bags for these bins but I only need to buy a new roll once every couple of months or so (30 on a roll so works out much less than the number of carrier bags I would use in the same period).

 

I always take my reusable bags with me when I go grocery shopping. I actually think they work much better than plastic bags for carrying the shopping anyway, and they just the right size for everything without being able to get so much in they get too heavy. I also have several plastic carrier bags (that I paid 15c each for) in my handbag that I use when out just buying general bits and pieces. I've had the same few bags for pretty much since we got here last July so they last well and are worth the money in my opinion. I don't support banning plastic bags completely for this reason. I find the plastic bags fold up smaller than the fabric ones and fit in my handbag better. However I fully support banning the free, disposable, waste of space ones and charging for the decent ones that last. And having recycling facilities for when the decent plastic bags come to the end of their life.

[pablo]

Haven't read the thread tbh,but ive got an impressive portfolio of those bags for life,never have i remembered to take one to the shops with me,ever,ive got plastic type ones,hessian type ones and kelp like ones,still end up buying more bags for life,because i forget the ones ive got,probs just me.........

Gnite!!

[Peach]

The whole argument about using carrier bags for bin bags is ridiculous unless you are throwing away everything you buy. Think about it - if everything coming in to your home is in a carrier bag then why do you need all those carrier bags for bin bags unless you are throwing everything away? Assuming you don't throw everything away then eventually you would have a glut of surplus carrier bags and you would start filling your bins with said surplus carrier bags.

 

In my suburb of Adelaide we have a green bin for all food and garden waste. We can also put paper and cardboard that has been contaminated with food in this bin. ALL food waste goes in, including bones. The instructions for it say if it once grew it can go in the green bin. This is collected once a fortnight. We also have a recycling bin for anything that can be recycled, including clean paper, cardboard, plastic, cans etc. This also gets collected once a fortnight. We then have a general rubbish bin for anything else, although to be honest, once you take out all the compostable and recyclable stuff there isn't that much for the general bin. We use bin bags for these bins but I only need to buy a new roll once every couple of months or so (30 on a roll so works out much less than the number of carrier bags I would use in the same period).

 

I always take my reusable bags with me when I go grocery shopping. I actually think they work much better than plastic bags for carrying the shopping anyway, and they just the right size for everything without being able to get so much in they get too heavy. I also have several plastic carrier bags (that I paid 15c each for) in my handbag that I use when out just buying general bits and pieces. I've had the same few bags for pretty much since we got here last July so they last well and are worth the money in my opinion. I don't support banning plastic bags completely for this reason. I find the plastic bags fold up smaller than the fabric ones and fit in my handbag better. However I fully support banning the free, disposable, waste of space ones and charging for the decent ones that last. And having recycling facilities for when the decent plastic bags come to the end of their life.

 

You negate your entire argument by saying you buy bags expressly for the purpose of throwing them away. Surely it would be better to have the choice of a single use carrier bag (for the times when you forget the bag for life ones / need to re-stock up on bin bags).

 

Whether you like it or not, people buy more big bags where they can't get them for free with their shopping.

 

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-...108-1ud3v.html

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/b...-1226119243127

[NicF]

You negate your entire argument by saying you buy bags expressly for the purpose of throwing them away. Surely it would be better to have the choice of a single use carrier bag (for the times when you forget the bag for life ones / need to re-stock up on bin bags).

 

Whether you like it or not, people buy more big bags where they can't get them for free with their shopping.

 

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-...108-1ud3v.html

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/b...-1226119243127

 

Except the bin bags I buy are larger than the free bags (that you don't get here in SA anyway). Yes people buy more bin bags when they don't get free carrier bags, but my argument is they don't buy nearly as many bin bags as they would get free bags with their shopping. When I stopped to think about it we use, on average, one bin bag a week. Are you honestly saying you only ever got one free carrier bag from the supermarkets a week? Even if you use more than one a week you are never going to use more bin bags than you would get free carrier bags with your shopping, assuming you never reuse any of the bags for shopping.

 

Stories like the ones in your link are sensationalist rubbish by backward thinking journalists. Well the Adelaide Now one is anyway, the other article did at least try and compare the amount if bags gone to landfill after the ban with the numbers before the ban but were not provided with the figures. Without a comparison of the two it's impossible to say if banning free single use carrier bags has increased or decreased the amount of plastic bags going to refill, and therefore if it has succeeded in the goal to reduce the amount of plastic bags being thrown away.

[Peach]

Except the bin bags I buy are larger than the free bags (that you don't get here in SA anyway). Yes people buy more bin bags when they don't get free carrier bags, but my argument is they don't buy nearly as many bin bags as they would get free bags with their shopping.

 

There is just as much plastic in one large bought bin bag as three small free carrier bags? and the three small ones have at least had a greater purpose than being thrown away.

[Diane]

[video=youtube;EVh15aUt8-c]

 

If Tim tells me to do it, I do it!

[newjez]

Personally, I keep an esky in the back of the car with all my bags for life in it. I put all the cold stuff in the esky and all the other stuff in a bag for life. Works a treat. My only problem is remembering to take a bag for life on a small shop. But if all else fails, I just stick the stuff back in the trolley and bag it at the car.

 

I used to get hung up on using bags for bins. But Lidl do a nice set for waste paper bins, and to be honest, I wasn't using that many for bin liners. Even now I have quite a collection of the disposable bags from internet shops. Not sure how they will deal with the internet shops.

[starlight7]

Do you think those bags breed? I am suspicious because I seem to have an awful lot of them.....

[Fisher1]

I have the evidence of my own eyes to tell me that the bag ban works. When I lived in Brussels I had a HUGE bag hanging in the corner of my kitchen, full of .... yep, plastic carriers that would 'come in handy' for all sorts of things -except of course there were always more coming into the house so the collection just got bigger. When bags in supermarkets were banned, the collection vanished, within six months. I came back to the UK and soon had a similar bag collection in the corner of my kitchen. Then bags were banned in Wales, collection vanished. I know I dont buy bags often (because I'm saving up for a 143 visa and every 5p helps offset this year's twelve thousand dollar increase ...

 

I also notice that although people who come into my clothes shop do buy bags from time to time (it's starting to be seen as a bit of a treat) I would say that only about one in ten buyers take a bag. We have every last morsel of waste taken here too, so I dont use bin liners at all because what goes in the bins is clean (usually waste paper).

 

One thing I really miss from Brussels is the monthly event we used to call 'big rubbish day' when you could leave anything big (old chairs, books, whatever) outside your house and a van would come round the next day and collect it. People used to wander round our neighbourhood the evening before big rubbish doing a bit of unofficial recycling. Great fun. Not to be tried in rough areas. :biggrin:

[NicF]

There is just as much plastic in one large bought bin bag as three small free carrier bags? and the three small ones have at least had a greater purpose than being thrown away.

 

Given that when I used the free carrier bags I would use 10-12 a week, even if you allow four small carrier bags per one of my bin bags that's still at least six carrier bags a week going straight to landfill.

 

Incidentally I've never used the free carrier bags as bin bags, I've always bought bin bags and usually the ones made from recycled plastic since they were brought out. I've been using the fabric shopping bags for years but even when I used to use the free bags I would reuse them until they fell apart.

[jen85]

Target already charge for bags now, its about 15c for memory but I have a little reusable one that folds up into a little purse that I keep in my handbag, saves keep buying them! Plus people should be recycling their shopping bags into the green bins at coles and woolies and not just chucking them in their bin at home.

[Guest littlesarah]

When I was a kid in the late '70s/early '80s, I seem to recall that supermarkets would have a stack of cardboard boxes that shoppers could take to transport their groceries. My mum always had a few in the boot of her car that she used. That was a good way of reusing boxes, and these days the customer could then recycle them once they got home (it has to be better to re-use before recycling, surely?)

[Peach]

Given that when I used the free carrier bags I would use 10-12 a week, even if you allow four small carrier bags per one of my bin bags that's still at least six carrier bags a week going straight to landfill.

 

Incidentally I've never used the free carrier bags as bin bags, I've always bought bin bags and usually the ones made from recycled plastic[

 

Right - so aside from the fact that I was just guessing ratio of plastic used in bin bags to carrier bags - what you're saying is that you've always bought bags just to throw away, even though that was in addition to a stream of free carrier bags? Please do tell me how this concept is not more ridiculous than your earlier ascertion that "The whole argument about using carrier bags for bin bags is ridiculous"?.. I'll repeat: you bought bags to throw away even when the supermarket was giving (and you were using) carrier bags for free?...

[whichway1]

So apparently the government want to introduce a 5p charge per plastic bag to discourage their use.

 

But here is a novel idea. Why don't supermarkets just ban plastic bags altogether? This will encourage customers to bring a bag-for-life, or something, with them to collect their groceries, which would overnight drastically reduce the impact they have on the environment.

 

Thoughts?

 

I absolutely 100% agree with this. The onus should be on the massive big companies with loads and loads of money to make the biggest dent in repairing the planet. Everyone can make a difference - but I think big companies should be ashamed.

[Fisher1]

Peach you are deliberately missing the point - which is that if bags are not given away free, less bags are used. Disect as many individual messages as you like, argue till you are blue in the face, it does not make sense to give out billions of plastic bags every year, whatever the recipients do with them.

[Sustain]

So apparently the government want to introduce a 5p charge per plastic bag to discourage their use.

 

But here is a novel idea. Why don't supermarkets just ban plastic bags altogether? This will encourage customers to bring a bag-for-life, or something, with them to collect their groceries, which would overnight drastically reduce the impact they have on the environment.

 

Thoughts?

 

My company is about to start online groceries (From Farm gate to Customers door). On the backhaul side we are taking all the plastic packaging back for recycling. On a separate run including tote box (for obvious health and safety issues) we will also be taking back used nappies and sanitary products. The plastic is reconstructed into plastic pellets for reuse. The recycling does not mean a premium price for the customer, nor any further action than placing used plastic into tote box.

 

My point is that traditional supermarkets can get away with plastic bags (using plastic tote boxes like the Sainsbury), but then you are still left with the individual items from thousands of suppliers/vendors.