Carrier Bags

[Fair Do]

Hi All,

What do you make of the latest thing of retailers not giving out carier bags unless you pay for them?

I've got mixed feelings to be honest, but one thing that bugs me is the fact that shops and stores use their carrier bags to advertise their company. Why should you have to pay to advertise for them? I'm not against paying for a carrier bag ...but I want a plain one!

One great way to annoy retailers (if you want to!!) is to re-use a competitors bag! They really don't want you to do that! I had to laugh the other day when I saw a customer in a well known supermarket with her trolley neatly stacked up with her weeks shopping all in competitors carrier bags ...it was brilliant ...they must have been cringing!

And to be honest, I don't quite understand how paying for them benefits the planet ...they are still hanging around causing trouble aren't they ...however much you pay for them.

If the payment really does go to help get rid of them in an enviromentally friendly way then maybe the retailers should be footing this bill. I would then be happy to promote them and say this company really does care!

Or am I missing something here??

I'll get off me soap box now!

Fair Do

[auntynet]

I too use bags from any supermarket regardless of where I am shopping - around here I have easy access to Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, Netto and Aldi and I've bought re-useable bags from all of them and when I go shopping I just grab one and never look to see what name it has on it.

The thing that annoys me are the bags that cost around 15p that are supposed to be environmentally friendly. I find that they don't hold anymore than the regular carriers and also that they only last for 2 or 3 shopping sessions. What's the point in that?

The ones I like best are the ones that fold up and fasten with a popper - they're usually 99p and are strong enough to fill up with tins and jars.

[ElaineJ]

I bought a pck of these bags last year and used them as "Wrapping" for presents to friends; the larger one will hold a laptop and A4 files.

I like those popper fold up bags as well - but Jones forgets to take his with him and comes back with supermarket carriers, I wish they'd ban them completely!!

[Caroleecrafts]

I have my own bags I have made but sometimes you go into a shop on a whim or passing and don't always have a bag with you, have you tried to carry 10 items down the street with no bag! I think there needs to be a happy medium, what I don;t understand is why don't they go back to the brown paper sacks that used to be used and are still used in the States.

[craftdancer]

I keep a small supply of plastic carriers in the car for unplanned shopping (and collecting hedgerow harvest), but if I know I am likely to go shopping then I take one of my small selection of bags which fold down to pocket size with me. If I am doing a supermarket shop I take my big plastic "trolley bag", my cool bag and a couple of the reusable fold up and fasten with a popper type bags.

I am also in the process of making some crocheted bags with left over and unwanted yarn using a pattern for crocheting cut up plastic carriers. When I get round to it I will start using some of my huge stash of fabric which has been collected/acquired and make bags with that too. These will be washable and hopefully will stretch in all directions to accommodate all the rubbish I am likely to put in them.

I very rarely require plastic bags from shops and those I acquire via other people bringing me stuff in them get reused as many times as possible, used as waste paper bin liners or taken to the local farm shop for their use.

Linda

[silvermaid]

I try and keep a few re-usable bags in the car and use any plastic ones I get for rubbish etc.
I have been using up my stash of fabric to make some bags for myself and have sold a few. The main thing is to make sure the bottom gusset is at least 5 inches deep or bigger otherwise you won't be able to put more than a cereal box in them.

Melanie

[onlyme]

Mine are the big re-usable Tesco trolley bags. Cost about a £1.00 each and I've had them ages!

[Roseberry Crafts]

Hate carrier bags, hate the impact they have on the planet, hate the way supermarkets are taking over the world! I use cloth shopping bags almost all of the time but DH will not (he's a big baby and doesn't think it's cool) so he comes home with the occasssional plastic carrier which will then be re-used to death.

I have a big problem with the way supermarkets are brandishing their new biodegradable "this bag will self destruct in 3 years" type bags. I think it just makes people think it's alright and doesn't matter. The fact is everybody focuses on the impact the used bag has on the environment but very few stop to think about the energy and resources that go into it's production in the first place!

Charging for carriers could work. For a few years I shopped in Lidl where they charge for their bags. I tell you it's amazing how quickly you get into the habit of always taking bags/ boxes with you to the supermarket. There are plenty of gadgety little bags on the market that fold up so small you could keep them on your keyring and never be without one! No excuses!

Sorry, bit of an eco-warrior. I'll stop ranting now.

[Bead Queen]

I use carrier bags all the time, but i am disgusted with the 'quality' because after just one use they have a big hole in the bottom of them (the ones from asda)! I think that we wouldnt go through so many if they made them good quality, plus we would be more likely to re-use them, and i think they have a damn cheek to ask us to 'pay' for them! (especially if you've just spent over £100 on a shop.

Anyhow, i think we should have the strong brown paper bags like they show us on the movies lol. That way, they are bio-degradable, plus we could re-use them for our crafts or wrapping pressies too.

Carol XXX

[Roseberry Crafts]

I use carrier bags all the time, but i am disgusted with the 'quality' because after just one use they have a big hole in the bottom of them (the ones from asda)! I think that we wouldnt go through so many if they made them good quality, plus we would be more likely to re-use them, and i think they have a damn cheek to ask us to 'pay' for them! (especially if you've just spent over £100 on a shop.

Anyhow, i think we should have the strong brown paper bags like they show us on the movies lol. That way, they are bio-degradable, plus we could re-use them for our crafts or wrapping pressies too.

Carol XXX

Gasps of horror!

Surely you would be better off making or investing in some resuable cloth (or even Jute) bags if you are struggling with the supermarket carriers! I think they should go ahead and start charging through the nose for them. It might make people think a bit more!

Perhaps the quality issues you have are because they are trying to make them as biodegradable as possible. If they made them from strong plastic they'd be lying around in landfill forever! People are too blaze when it comes to throwing stuff in the bin. Even recycling has it's issues but not many people realise that. We all shove our milk bottles and juice cartons in the collection bins in the supermarket car park thinking that it's ecologically sound but the truth is that the vast majority of our recyclables are shipped half way round the world to be processed!

When it comes to that mantra of "Reduce, Re-use, Recycle" I always make sure I think of it in that order. Reduce is absolute number one. Reduce the amount of waste we create and then there is less to deal with in the first place! This definately applies to carrier bags. We must all start taking responsibility and refusing carriers at the checkout in favour of our own resuable cloth bags!

[Delta]

Probably going against the grain here, but I prefer the plastic supermarket bags.

We re-use them for shopping as much as we can, we use them as poop bags when taking the dog out for a walk (and so are cutting down on having to buy poop bags), we use them for bin liners at home (and so I don't have to buy bin bags) and they get used when the kids put their pe kits in their bags for school, it saves books and sometimes the pe kit itself from getting covered in mud off their trainers.

We have also been known to use them as padding when sending something fragile through the post, they are great as cushioning material in the box.

[Critchley]

I have my own bags I have made but sometimes you go into a shop on a whim or passing and don't always have a bag with you, have you tried to carry 10 items down the street with no bag! I think there needs to be a happy medium, what I don;t understand is why don't they go back to the brown paper sacks that used to be used and are still used in the States.

I sat thinking about this one for a few mins. My first thought was that a lot more trees would have to be felled for the brown paper bags. Then common sense clicked in and I realised that, yes, they could be made out of recycled stuff and then recycled again and again and again so it was a good suggestion after all.

[justoneoff]

I bought a jumper that cost £40 from T K Max, paid for it, and the cashier just pushed the receipt and the jumper to me, and said thank you........I asked for a bag, and she said I had to pay 30p for one! So I just walked out of the store with the jumper in my hand into the rain!!!!!

My OH said I should have told them to keep the jumper, and see if they would have changed their minds! but men dont understand that I had rummaged through all the racks and tried it on, and well just fell in love with it!

[Fair Do]

Yikes! ...some strong feelings out there!

I think clothes are a different ball game. Like other non-food items they can be more of an 'impulse' purchases, which means you won't always have your own bags with you. I think it's reasonable to expect some means of transporting your purchase home ...otherwise you might leave it (as suggested!) and the retailer wouldn't want that would they?

I guess it's going to take a long time for us to adapt.

Regrads.
Fair Do

PS - on the brown paper bags idea ...I've always thought the image of carrying your groceries home in an open top paper bag is pretty cool (on the films anyway!) but how would they cope with a weeks shopping for a big family ...I don't think they ever show that!

[handcrafted]

In Ireland they just dont provide bags (parents live there) and it was fine. The clothes shops use paper bags. I think if everywhere dont provide them then you'l get used to it.

I have a load of bags but i always forget to bring them!