Ban Plastic Bags?

[greenlung]

I picked up 7 carrier bags on the Bristol-Bath cyclepath today, stuffed them with more rubbish and put them in the bin by the supermarket. Felt so much better & the place looked a bit less crap too !

If peops have to use plastic bags, they should have to pay a tax towards an environmental fund to clear up the consequences - though I'll keep doing it for nowt, to make up for those who would never change, even if you stuffed a new DNA sequence down their throats ; )

[jeannine]

Just wanted to say well done Two Sheds for getting us all thinking about this, what a great thread!

[Paul Wagland]

I think Sue just became my new hero!

[NOG]

Two things....

1. Bum we are going to have to buy in bags at the alloment if this takes off.
At our allotment shop we all take in our ould plastic bags and reuse them when people buy stuff.

2. I am going to have to start to buy bin liners.

and finally when I was a kid tall the supermarkets used to sell you plastic bags Co-op started doing the ones made from starch the fellapart after a year what ever happend to them.

[Paulottie]

I couldn't agree with you more Sue, I don't use supermarkets either...but you know if there are just a few more converts perhaps they will notice the loss of revenue. I just enjoy supporting local businesses and every so often They return the favour and commission some furniture!

really enjoyed this debate thanks folks...Night

[Waffler]

I've been saying they should charge for placcy bags or replace with paper ones for ages now, having finally got into the mindset of taking my 'bags for life' when I go shopping. However, still haven't got to the stage where there's always a bag or so in the car for impromptu visits to the shops.
For me its a similar issue to the battery hens etc. For all people go on about the poorer folk needing a super-cheap option, if the government stepped in and got rid of the cheapest of the cheap, people would have no option but to be a little more ethically minded. If this means they have to eat less of the stuff, then so be it... maybe certain members of the public might like to bulk out their food with some fruit and veg so we dont' continue down the line of becoming a super-sized nation!
Anyway, I digress: definitely get rid of plastic bags in the longrun and start making people pay for them: they'll soon learn!

[fizzywitch]

I can honestly say we see plastic on most dives, the plastic thingies that hold 4 cans of beer together are the worst, they are real wildlife killers.

They've been a problem for decades now, I always snap the rings before I bin them.

[Tracey]

My mum came to stay last week. When we went shopping I'd try ever so hard to avoid using plastic bags. One day we shopped in wilkos and I bought loads and put small things inside big things and got kids to carry the big things with the small things in to avoid using a plastic bag. My mum behind me bought one little thing and took a plastic bag to put it in. When we got back to the car I gave her a 'gentle' telling off. Since then everytime she bought anything, she would decline the plastic bag loudly and say 'oh I can't take that, my daughter will be cross with me'.

[Sue]

Coming home from the allotment, the bus goes past a ginormous Sainsburys, in front of the bus pull in there used to be an area with shrubs, this was all hacked back last year, presumably because of the rats (!) who I used to see in there on a regular basis. Anyway tonight there were plastic bags hooked all over this area, bags blowing in the road, bags hooked on the trees across the road...
And where do these come from, from people taking excess plastic bags for fruit and bakery products and wanging them in their trolley, they don't use them all so they're left there, the trolley's left outside the shop and hey, the plastic bags blow everywhere.
Sick making.
Sue

[everdream78]

As I'm typing this, I can hear the dulcet rustle of two carrier bags flapping in next door's tree.....it's driving me up the wall!!

[bluemoon]

Like Sue I've been trying to avoid using supermarkets. Ironically I was able to source almost everything I needed elsewhere except for Ecover products, the day I discovered them in a nearby health food shop I was soooooooo excited (sad I know) Now my only problem is strong baking flour. There is a mill in Derbyshire which sells their own flours, but it's a fair drive from here and I'm not able to store enough to justify a special journey.

I wouldn't mind knowing the details of that shopping trolley though Sue.

[Flummery]

As I'm typing this, I can hear the dulcet rustle of two carrier bags flapping in next door's tree.....it's driving me up the wall!!

Does anyone else know these as Witches Knickers?
Or is is just my family?

[Paulottie]

No perhaps just you so far Flum, but I think our family may call them that now

[Marthaclematis]

Mr MarthaClematis and I don't have a car and when we go shopping we each take a rucksack. Its amazing how much you can get inside even a medium size one. And because of the way you wear a rucksack even heavy shopping is bearable (we live on a hill). It certainly gives you a workout when you're carrying t'vins of catfood. (or bottles of wine !) I also don't put my veg in bags in the supermarket either - just put them loose in the trolley and then straight into the rucksack pocket. We've got used to not leaving the house without them. We've even carried big bags of compost home in the large size one. Must go and bring my pots in again, the frost is on its way.

[Sue]

BlueMoon
I was delighted to find the chilli man at the Farmer's Market has branched into Ecover products and does the refills - a first for Tunbridge Wells!

I've been asked about my shopping trolley so often I've taken to keeping the details with me.
It was made in Somerset by Gordon Hembrow, 01278 787153, I think it cost (gulp) about £80.... but was determined to find something handmade and not made of plastic or from China. You can get many different handmade shopping baskets via the internet but he's the only person I've ever found making shopping trolleys.
Mine's not looking quite at its best now having done way too many allotment trips.
best wishes
Sue