OK then, what are the views of those who reside Scotland, or have visited Scotland's shops, only to find that shops charge you 5p for every carrier bag, paper or plastic.
Irrespective of items e.g. food, clothes, booze etc etc etc, you pay the obscene 5p tax.
C'mon, lets have your views!
Jim
Been like that in Northern Ireland for ages now. There are some exceptions tho:
Food - such as take away, where there's a contamination risk. (local chinese has a sign up that they'll have to charge 5p if you want drinks in a bag, food comes with a free bag.
Chemists - they can give a free bag ro maintain confidentiality.
Makes it easier for shoplifter too, as nearly everyone is walking out of the shop with armfuls of stuff, makes them harder to spot.
Been to Cardiff last month and they did the same at all shops. What is the purpose of the charge, it is never explained?
To be honest it's not really bothered me much. 1 thing though, 5p for a paper bag from McDonald seems a bit much considering it is bio degradable ( unlike the contents). I love they ask at the drive through whether you want a bag, 4 large fries and burgers .nah pass them here and I'll spread them over my car seats.
It's to cut down on the number of bags going to landfill. Save the trees and all that
Doesn't bother me at all. Bought one of them £2 fabric bags and just keep in the car.
The apprentice at my work wouldn't believe us that if you buy a 7p bag for life and it breaks you get it replaced though.
If something is wrong it's wrong, how can paying for it make it right ?
So it's a tax
thats the claim!! call me cynical thoughOriginally Posted by demonloop
I thought it was just up here that this applied though, didn't realise it was in norn iron and welsh wales too.
every day truly IS a school day.
J
Been this way in Wales for years, there has been a dramatic reduction in plastic carrier bags being used which is a good thing IMHO. I bought small hessian bags which have lasted me years in fairness.
Makes sense to me, stops people taking unnecessary bags.
do you really.
which store does that apply to
Tesco for one.
This is a good initiative that I fully support. Australia adopted this maybe 5 yrs ago, we still use the canvas bags we bought at that time for the weekly shop. I walk to the shops to buy my lunch most days and find myself using the same bag for weeks. In what way can encouraging less plastic land fill be considered a bad thing.
you can tell i don't shop very much i guess
You don't need to apply, you just buy them. They've been about for a while in Tesco and Asda I think.
So, based on what I'm reading here, there is a facility to buy a heavy duty plastic bag for 7p that probably goes straight to the retailer's coffers BUT the bag isn't for life and maybe lasts a few weeks - shopping trips dependent of course.
So, when that bag is rubber ducked what happens to it? Oh look, it probably goes in the bin with all its heavier duty plastic that will NEVER degrade to safe levels.
Hmmmm.
Why aren't we going back to stiff paper/card bags that are reasonably bio-degradable??
Just a random thought thrown out there for response
I'm not normally one for 'green' initiatives, however this I do agree with- at least it'll make people think before taking a non degradable bag to use once, for a short time, and then bin.
Has to be a good thing , I'm not seeing plastic bags stuck in tress these days .
agreed Jez.
Do you really believe it'll make much difference to the vast amount of shoppers?
When we do our monthly shop we generally have a boot full with around 15-20 bags full.....will it make me think the next time I go to the shop when it costs me an extra quid to do the shopping......I don't think so!
The bags you get are normally only good for one shop as a lot split and cut.
I doubt it'll make stuff all difference tbh.
Just googled it, seems they're 10p a bag but will be replaced if broken. Pretty sure the price must've went up when the new law came in.
On that point Jez,
Drove through a small town recently and looked at a tree next to a kids play park. look at the tree to see lots of small plastic bags stuck in the branches. Looked a bit closer to find they were full, dog pooh bags!! Loverly - not!!
Nothing queerer than folk
Bags here are much more than 5p. Basically everyone here in Ireland now uses their own bags.
Profiteering maybe??
Been 10p in Tesco (England) for as long as I can remember.
Am I right in saying that the money from the bags just goes straight in to the the companies pocket and it not actually a tax that goes to the goverment.?
It does but they are encouraged to donate it to charity - esp. environmental ones. I imagine all big retailers will do this to avoid negative publicity.
http://carrierbagchargescotland.org....Regulation.pdf
What about all of the other plastic and endless packaging that comes as a bi product of the weekly shop - cant see how anyone is doing anything about that. In fact its increasing - items in cardboard packaging surrounded by plastic packaging all wrapped in plastic film. I had to get an extra recycling bin recently. As well as adding to the cost of everything how much energy does this stuff cost to manufacture?
What happens to 'Bags for Life' when we die?
European consumers are using about 100bn plastic bags per year. About 10% of these land somewhere in the nature or the oceans.
Your estate is charged death duty
Could put in the coffin and it'll be a 'Bag for Afterlife'
And let me guess. Shops are flocking to become Registered Charities????
Be interesting to see what the income is from those who pay the tax
I support this initiative whole-heartedly. Hopefully it will make people think twice before littering plastic bags. The only time it caught me out as at Subway (when I assumed the small plastic sheath to encapsulate my 12-incher, sandwich I might add, would not be classed as a chargeable plastic bag).
Bargain Booze have been charging 5p for a carrier bag for over a year now in Wiltshire.In our local Tesco's you nearly have to plead and beg to get one or two for free.
It wouldn't. But in reality it just means I have to buy bin liners rather than getting them free. The same number of bags end up in landfill and I'm poorer for it.
All the 5 pences go to charity and as already stated it is to get people to use reusable bags such as hessian ones. In Wales, some retailers even replace the heavier duty ones FOC so it's not all doom and gloom.
From everything I've read it has proven to work so far as encouraging people to recycle and reuse is concerned......... Do you lot live in caves or something over in England??? Some of the indignation in the responses is hilarious.
'5pence for a carrier bag, I don't believe it, it's a tax on shopping bags........ ' for the love of God get a grip 😜😜
Reality is those plastic bags are around forever in landfills. I grumped at first, but now we just bring our canvas bags to the store for groceries or small things I just pocket.
Doing something positive I reckon.
This. Exactly.
Mostly this is another exercise in political correctness gone mad. In every supermarket shop there are far more eggregious examples of unnecessary plastic packaging being used than a few poly bags; but punters have to pay for bags while no-one attempts to force supermarkets to be more sensible. Another 'nudge' from the Oxbridge PPE brigade while they leave their city chums to maximise profit like they always do.
They'll be charging folk for prescriptions up there next....
So? Costs here 20 cents or so. Just take your own with you and do not pay.
-OD
Carrier Bags No More. I thought it was the latest Proclaimers song.
To post 20- The data for Wales suggest a reduction of 76% in carrier bag use. Like I said I'm no great environmentalist but we are running out of land fill and it seems common sense to try and reduce use of plastics as disposable items. Totally agree with other posts about other packaging, but that doesn't make this a bad idea.
What is this "shopping" people are referring to, and the need to have a "bag". Surely with the invention of the Interweb one simply has stuff delivered to your home.
Sound like something my wife might be interested in.
Don't work with me. I, like a lot of people, use carrier bags as kitchen bin liners. Now I have to buy proper bin liner bags - these are cheaper than 5p carriers. Nett effect (amount of plastic going in the dustbin) the same.
Yes and that comes in carrier bags! The Waitrose delivery carriers are excellent!
I love the way it's the consumers fault for using plastic bags, not the retailer for providing them. When it comes to being Environmentally Friendly, any charge is a tax especially when there is no alternative.
Surely it would be better to provide a stronger recycled paper bag, scrap all plastic bags and stop charging people. Stupid me, that would mean somebody wouldn't be making any money from being environmentally friendly!
There is an alternative - take your own bags.
Paper bags weigh up to 10 times that of plastic (and are bulkier) so transport costs are much greater. Not everyone recycles paper and in compacted landfill without oxygen they will not degrade easily.
Most retailers (esp. big stores) will not be making money out of this.
We've had this here in Wales for a while now - TBH it's a pain in the Harris. I do now carry collapsible plastic crates in the car boot (when I remember to reload them after taking in the shopping) but in practice I probably end up buying 50% of the same number of bags each week (impulse shops) and they contain way more plastic than the flimsies you used to get. Pretty much only Morrison's will still supply the thin style bags (which I use to line bins with).
All the years I lived in the USA I think I hardly ever saw a plastic grocery bag - it was all brown paper.....what's the problem with using them? Very green by comparison, and totally recyclable (as fuel) or compostable.
Makes no sense to me, other than for a few self promoting numpties in devolved assemblies scoring points.
Isn't that how you make coal? ;-)
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