Carrier bags, recycling, 5p, glass bottles, etc

[wstol]

I thought most supermarkets were going to charge 5p for plastic carrier bags five years ago.

Surely the answer is to make paper bags, like they used to be.

I am the worst for taking carrier bags and supermarkets. When I get home, I then use the bag to carry lunch for work.
Then I use it to contain all the household waste, instead of one of those black bin liners.

So a paper carrier bag would presumably rot very quickly if buried in a landfill site.

As far as I know, all my household rubbish has to be wrapped in something before it goes into the bin which the council empty.
What else is available apart from plastic bags?

The quality of plastic bags has got worse in recent years, presumably to help the environment. But if I pay 5p for a carrier, and it breaks and all my shopping falls out, do I get a refund? Or a replacement? And any damaged foodstuff replaced?

Can plastic bags be recycled to make anything?
Plastic bottles can be used to make some very nice loft insulation.

We never asked to have plastic bags instead of paper ones. We have very little control in what we throw away.

Many goods come with totally unnecessary packaging that can't easily be recycled.

An example is a new video or dvd player. It comes in a cardboard box. Fair enough, I can use that again for something, and as far as I know it's recyclable and degradable. There will be big chunks of polystyrene. Totally useless, and messy. There will also be plastic bags, which the chunks of polystyrene will be chucked into then thrown away.

I wonder if some clean rags wrapped around the video player would do just as well. I can use the rags at home for cleaning things, then throw them away when they're no good.

I remember getting money back on Lucozade bottles. An incentive to recycle that worked.
Though we can chuck glass bottles into a recycling bottle bank, if they were returned to the supplier, they could be cleaned and used again, without having to waste resources in making new ones.

Incidently, I didn't realise on those bottle banks, all the different holes for different colour glass, and it all ends up in one big container!

 

[cciaffone]

For many years now, we have each been using cloth carrier bags,
either purchased used from thrift shops or new/cheap/free from
supermarkets, to tote our shopping home. Nothing to toss and nothing
to recycle. Think I have about half a dozen in the back seat, along
with several 6-bottle cloth carriers for wine bottles.

 

[Adanor]

Here in the US, some states and Washington DC are charging for plastic carrier bags but so far I've escaped the charge. I reuse my bags to dispose of kitty litter and many people save the bags to pick up their dog waste. Also, the local supermarket maintains a recycle bin for bags. The bags look flimsy but so far they have not broken. My trash service picks up recycling in addition to regular trash and have recently expanded the list of items they will accept to all kinds of paper, all types of plastic, and glass.

 

[barmpot]

The only snag with a charge for bags is that I sometimes make a spontaneous purchase but do not carry a spare bag on my person, so whatever I bought would have to be carried in my arms or left behind, if there was no bag available.

But even if we have nice jute bags, (I do have some but do not go out with them unless I intend buying more than two items) we still run foul of additional waster as if you have a multi-pack, each items is individually wrapped and then there is an outer wrapper as well.

Example is biscuits: buy a pack of three, all wrapped and then wrapped in an outer. Sixty years ago, the shop assistant placed your biscuits from a large cubed metal container into a paper bag; no discount for quantity but you could choose exactly which ones you wanted from those on offer. Also priced on weight, so bought just enough. Somehow I do not think we shall go back to that!

Anyway I reckon I have several hundred such plastic bags in my dungeon, I do re-use them but slowly so I could always offer them at a discount - 4p each not 5p!

 

[Big Unc]

The only snag with a charge for bags is that I sometimes make a spontaneous purchase but do not carry a spare bag on my person, so whatever I bought would have to be carried in my arms or left behind, if there was no bag available.

Reminds me of when Compo got all coy about the use of the term "on his person".

 

[maltrab]

I think the 5p bag charge is just another back door tax no matter where the money ends up, it will not stop the total amount used as folk will just accept the cost,if the powers that be really believed it was a problem then the simple answer would be to ban them,is there a VAT content of this 5p charge I wonder

 

[barmpot]

The only snag with a charge for bags is that I sometimes make a spontaneous purchase but do not carry a spare bag on my person, so whatever I bought would have to be carried in my arms or left behind, if there was no bag available.

Reminds me of when Compo got all coy about the use of the term "on his person".

Actually it reminded me when I wrote it, did wonder whether I should change it but left it in to see if any one else noticed. You did!