5p for a carrier bag
 

Excess baggage: will the 5p charge finally kill the plastic bag? | Environment | The Guardian

From 05/10/15,as part of a 'Gov initiative' :rolleyes:,folk will be charged a extra 5p for a carrier bag at supermarkets etc.
Being a tight sod,and not buying a bag for life,I'm not happy paying for a bag to take my purchases home in.

It's not so much about cost, it's the principal of it.
Your not telling me them crap bags that most folk have to double up on (now costing 10p) cost 5p,do they?
If,like myself, you buy a trolley full of shopping at the supermarket, you obviously need bags to carry it home etc.....



....I for one don't expect to have to pay extra just to take my purchase(s) home that's all I'm saying :D

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

lol your gonna get it from the people who think the planet needs saving

personally i wouldnt mind paying for a carrier bag if they were fit for purpose

give me a 1980's plazzy bag and i will happily pay 5p , them ones you could use as a school bag all week and doubled up as a sledge in winter and still didnt break.These new wafer thin ones are a joke

surely i cant be the only one that remembers slapping an asda carrier bag between their legs and hurling down a snowy hill ?

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

We had the deluxe "Black bin bags"! :D

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Don't forget that the bags are replaced for free when required at Tesco, so there is only an initial cost to pay.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

The new law doesn't apply to small businesses so we might sell them at 2p to undercut the big boys :)

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

If you try slapping an Asda carrier bag between your legs do go downhill now your gonna end up with a sore bum... :)

A bag for life at Asda costs 6p, this will be replaced FOC when damaged.

And what will happen to the old bags - they will be chucked in the compactor and sent to landfill.

Best to checkup on the situations when your not going to be charged just in case someone at the till has not had the correct training.
And beware putting non exempt items in with exempt items.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/carrier-...sponsibilities

And at the supermarkets, where they have those big bins for you to put your old bags, are they going to get smaller now? Can someone who has forgotten theirs go and get some out of the reuse bin? lol

I have carried bags to the supermarket for the past few years so it won't make any difference to me except where I need to put food in to keep it separate from other stuff.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

It will teach me to remember we got shopping bags in boot of car, which usually i forget, not a big deal at all imho.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

It's a good job it's not about the cost, because 5p is a massive markup on what plastic bags cost to make. The "reasonable costs" for the scheme go to the retailer, and they are expected to donate the remainder to charity.

You pay for your bags already. The cost is hidden in the price of the goods you buy. It's so small (per item) it's not noticeable. This scheme is about trying to reduce the number of bags we use.

Not only do bags use an irreplaceable resource in their manufacture (oil) they take forever to decompose. The figure is often given as 500 years, but that's just a euphemism for "we don't know but it's a very long time". Modern plastic bags break down through exposure to ultraviolet light, so the ones you see flapping about in trees will decompose eventually. The ones that go into landfill will probably never break down.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

My on-line grocer Ocado is charging 5p per bag in accordance with the new law, but will refund 5p each for any bags handed to their driver. This includes bags from ANY supermarket.

So last week's bags pay for this weeks bags - seems reasonable.

They have always accepted bag returns and recycle them by shredding and remaking them.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

i reckon i could reverse my car through the automatic doors at asda up to checkout 1 :D

accy tesco may be bit more of a challenge :(

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

The answer, Jason....is very very simple. Make sure you have a bag with you.
There has been a move to reduce reliance on plastic bags for a long time now.....surely you have got the message.
I have several re-usable bags in my roomy handbag.
If you buy something wet(meat or fish) you will get a bag at no cost.....but if you put anything else in it you will be charged 5pence.
This money will not go to the retailer to swell their profits. It will go to charities....so if by some mad chance I run out of bags, I will be happy to pay the 5p.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Who's to say the retailer won't pocket the 5p

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

They are allowed to pocket the cost of the bag, but 5 pence is in excess of what the carriers cost the retailer and they will donate the rest to charity...how this will be policed I have no idea, but I think that most retailers will want to trumpet the good causes they support by telling us how much they have given, and to which good causes.
After all it is very good Google Page Ranking.
In Wales they have been charging for Carrier bags for quite a long time......and folk have got used to it....most having their own bags with them. I have even seen a shopper give a used plastic carrier to someone who hadn't one with them.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

So it would seem to be working in its purpose to cut down on the number of plastic bags which litter the countryside and can be harmful to animals.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

I wheel trolley to the checkout, put the stuff on the belt, put it back in the trolley wheel it to the car and put the shopping in boxes in the boot. When I get home, I take the boxes out of the car and empty them in the kitchen, then put them back in the car.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

The other year when we had very high winds the trees on the motorway were festooned with Carrier bags which had blown onto the trees from the tip at Whinney hill.
It looked terrible.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

If the bag is on the bill then I suspect there will be vat on it, so the government will be getting part of it, doubt if they will spend it on green issues though, probably up the expenses of MP's

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Nah keep it back as a slush fund, to pay any fines they get fer fiddling.;)

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

How much Vat would there be on a 5 pence bag?
If vat was at 20% it would be a penny.
How much would it cost to administrate this.....probably more than it would generate.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Won't cost any extra to administer as it will be part of the process already for the big supermarkets, 8.5 billion bags used in 2014, even a fraction of that is a lot of pennies :)

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Well, then let us hope that everyone remembers to bring a bag from home.....to scupper any possibility of the government getting their hands on very much money.
I know that will strengthen my resolve to always carry a few.....I might even give one to a shopper who hasn't brought one.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

I always take the bag shopping, she's the one with the list & usually all me money! ;) :D

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

You have overdosed on the stupidity pills again:D

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

MPs dont get punished for fiddling

they are above the law as proven by how many are still not only not in prison but are still representing this country and telling us how to behave

if they find that they have committed a criminal offence they simple refuse to investigate themselves

i guess when anyone gets caught for fraud and they get asked why they did it they can say because the MPs showed them it was ok to

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

What are you on about .... again? ;)

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

And the bag takes stupid......he's the one that carries the full bags around and back to the car!
(Only joking Son:D)

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

if they were really bothered about the impact of plastic bags they would do away with them all together at supermarkets etc and use brown bags like they do in america.Yes they may break occasionally as do plastic ones

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Here, here or create a biodegradable alternative.

Beats me while they still allow food packaging which is not recyclable. If they want to reduce the amount of landfill fodder then stop producing it.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

This is the government screwing us again under the PC 'green' values, which quite frankly will have zero 'green' effect. Those reusable ones are fine, I have a couple in my boot which, I always remember I have just as I get to the checkout.

These things are already recyclable and have been for years..used to do the odd shift for a guy to top up my apprenticeship wages some 40 years ago..stuff the bags in one end of the machine...nice little plastic chunks come out of the other, which went back to the bag manufacturer to make more.

Quite a few supermarkets have a recycling box for bags..and with a bit of forward planning by central government and local councils could actually benefit the local populace.....then again I guess its much easier to chuck a 5p surcharge and get a penny a bag from everyone to pay for duck hides, moat cleaning and second homes for MP's...

....and we'll still see trees full of bags in high winds

Who comes up with these ideas, and who passes them as 'clever'?????

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Sooooo, as I said earlier in the thread......bring your bags to put your shopping in....or trolley them to the boot of your car....don't play into their hands by giving the 5p for a bag....that will increase the governmental revenue.....and do nothing for green causes.
Landfill is still going to be full of bags which will take goodness knows how long to break down as we still use bin bags.
It will still be full of plastic bottles that are supposed to be recycled, except many are not(this despite the fact that we have spent time and effort into sorting our rubbish into the categories specified by our own councils).

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Which in turn will mean that those small businesses who rely on recycling bags will have to cast off jobs and the major manufacturers of carrier bags will also do the same.....

These guys who think up simplistic ideas without thinking it through should pay heed to this...

China?s Worst Self-Inflicted Environmental Disaster: The Campaign to Wipe Out the Common Sparrow

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

What burns my ass is that they are charging for plastic bags in order to protect the environment ... which is ok, 'cause the environment is where we live. But just check out how many of the products you buy are packaged in plastic. Even some brands of booze now come in plastic bottles; but you don't get a plastic bag in which to carry them home.:mad:

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Yup..10 cans of Guinness now come in shrink wrap plastic instead of a cardboard box..(only a matter of time before the other brewers cotton on)

It's great..takes less room in the fridge, it's easier to carry two packs from the car to the fridge, and I have less issues with recycling..because..

I had to store the cardboard boxes and remember to put them out on recycling collection day, meanwhile the shrink wrap is chucked into the non recyclable bin the minute I use the last can...and no doubt will end up in a tree the next time we have a strong wind

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

i hope they dont start putting 20 x carlsberg into plastic wrap instead of a box because so far my " i need the box for ebay " excuse is holding just fine but the box is teh vital part in this scenario

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

i dont personally think anything we do will effect climate change i think the world will do as it pleases regardless of any efforts

what i do object to is using the fear of impending doom to bleed peoples pockets dry

they made us use energy saving light bulbs that use less electricity.Not only are these bulbs more expensive but because they use less electricity the electricity companies raised the price of electricity to cover the loss in usage of power

whatever way they find to save energy gets negated by someone who relies on products using as much energy as possible

cars now do more mileage to the gallon these days and have fuel saving measures so when these inventions came into play up went the fuel costs.People switched to diesel for more mileage so up shot the price of diesel that used to be half of what petrol was

no matter how we try to help we get punished

two people who wont ever loose out are the government and the big companies especially power and fuel companies who are he ones who should be getting told to clean up their acts not us

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

...but are full of poisons which do far more damage to the environment than the extra bit carbon dioxide that was made from the additional power for the old-fashioned bulbs

Governments have no idea when it comes to the environment. They have the "save the planet" types on one side and the "make a profit" on the other. The only time a government takes action is when someone can convince it that it's saving the planet whilst making a profit. Usually with a bit of a kickback for the politicians involved.

For example, to qualify for a feed-in-tariff for solar panels, you need to have a certain minimum energy efficiency level for your home. Why? The electricity you are generating would be going towards global warming if it were not for your panels soaking it up instead. You could fill up your storage heaters during the day and leave your doors open at night - the net effect on the climate is zero. That energy would have been released into the environment anyway without the panels to "catch" it.

The biggest single way of improving the score is to replace an immersion heater with a condenser boiler. So you're replacing a simple machine which should really last a lifetime with a complex one that needs replacing every 15 years or so. You're replacing a use for your free electricity with hot water that costs you money. And the real kicker? The "inefficient" immersion heater connected to solar panels has absolutely zero carbon footprint. Even the panels are usually made from recycled glass (the impurities help with generation). With the boiler, you are using up an irreplaceable resource and generating greenhouse gases while you do it.

I'm not an environmentalist or an anti-capitalist. I just hate stupidity when it's from people who should know better.

(Sorry for the rant.)

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Just like Accyman, I am one of those objectionable creatures..... A climate change denier.
I do not really believe that what man does influences our climate one jot.
How long have we been studying the climate of this planet?
How long has the planet existed?

I just think it is an excuse to make us all feel guilty......and a better excuse to take money off us.

We are an island surrounded by coastline.....there are two tides every day.
What a fantastic way to generate clean power.....do we do it? No we don't. Instead we dot the countryside with hideously ugly inefficient wind turbines and pat purselves on the back because we THINK this is going to solve energy problems.

I mentally switch off when those with the Green Agenda start spouting. If I didn't do this it would be detrimental to my health.

By the way hasn't it been mooted that those scientist who were studying climate change 'fudged' the figures to scare us all?

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

i dont know margaret maybe the dinosours got killed out because they over did it with lynx and back then fuel wouldnt have been unleaded so their cars would have given off ozone killing fumes...

archaeologists did find evidence they left things on standby and not powered off too

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

I am really quite fed up of those who think this charging 5p for a carrier bag will cause chaos.
Take a bag with you or buy a bag...the choice is yours(I would charge 50p.....that would be a more realistic price if we really want to save the planet)
In Wales they have been charging for carrier bags since 2011......even the charity shops charge 5 pence for a used carrier bag.
The place does not seem to have come to a standstill.

This morning by the building that used to be the tax office there was a white carrier bag stuck in a tree.....not a pleasant sight, but we forget that all our rubbish is bagged up in black plastic bin bags...all going to Landfill...these are not going to degrade any faster than carrier bags so the guff about the damage to the environment is just that, GUFF.

OK so a black bin bag full of domestic waste might not find its way into the gullet of a turtle, or be washed up on a beach in the Seychelles....but it is still not environmentally friendly.

It is time we started to incinerate household waste to provide heat and energy.....but wait....can't do that, it probably would produce so much carbon emission that we would see the planet off by next Tuesday.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

enviroMENTALists have long ago got to the stage where they are blaming cow farts for destroying the planet

it wont be long before they start blaming human farts and a fart tax enforced although the tax man will have to try and figure out who done it just like everyone else :D

ps:

im doing my bit im eating the bloody cow

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

It's simple.
We were given them free with our shopping.
The government don't like us getting anything for free so they insist that we pay for them.
Although it's not obvious, the government will likely get part of the charge in taxes that the company charging have to pay.

Backdoor taxation.
Start bottling your air now before it's too late!

:) :) :)

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

T Rex didn't.

:D

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Also the frozen veg plus fresh spuds/carrots, onions etc, are all in plastic bags, anyone that thinks this 5p a bag will help the environment, has got rocks in there head imho.:rolleyes:its just another load of crap, thought up by some do-gooder thats clueless.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

A climate change denier? A little like Cnut, with some Little Dutch Boy thrown in for good measure:rolleyes:

And the earth has been around for about 4.5 billion years, plus or minus 1% ... or, if you go along with Ussher and the Bible, 6019 years ... or it will be 18 days from now. Maybe we should have a birthday party.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

earth is having a mid life crisis its ozone is thinning and it cant hold its water as well as it used to hence the rising tides.Lets just hope it dosnt run off with a younger moon

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Climate change has been going on for millions of years, how else did we get from an Ice Age to a temperate climate?

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Well would you believe it. Just coming home from town and I found an England Rugby shirt in a Tesco,s plastic bag. Didn't know what to do with it so I threw it in the dust bin. Thinking about it. What a waste of a 5 pence plastic bag.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Yeah, you should have kept the bag :)

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Popped into Asda this afternoon for a few things.
Asked the girl 'How's charging for the bags going'?
OK she said, usage well down.
BUT- she had one guy this morning started screaming and shouting at her wanting to charge him 5d a bag. Manager came, couldn't calm him, security had to eject him. He's banned now. I can't believe he didn't know about the charge and what a fool to get so worked up!

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

I heard a similar story in town today.
Where have these people been? How can you avoid seeing all the notices in the shops....on the TV too.
I just think some people believe if they make a big enough fuss then they will get a bag free.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

mammoths left the fridge door open a night and sabertooth tigers refused to recycle ?

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

so now he will have to shop at aldi or lidel where they have been charging for bags since they opened many years ago lol

ps:

no idea where the pic was taken i think its a joke picture

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Well, maybe it's time to do a little reading if you are remotely interested. There's a "Global Warming for Idiots" that is fun and informative. (In fact, all the "Idiots' Guides" and "Dummies" books are worthwhile reads ... I read "Algebra for Dummies" and got more out of it in five minutes than I did from a whole year of E. J. Owen.:D) But what climate change deniers are denying is that human activity is affecting the climate ... that increasing amounts of carbon dioxide are entering the atmosphere from industrial activity, (particularly in the emerging economies of China, India, and Brazil,) deforestation, farts from over seven billion people:D, and all that kinda stuff. Denying climate change is like denying that the Holocaust happened ... faced with mountains of evidence ... photographic, documentary (even the minutes of the Wannsee Conference are available) some folks just say "Nah ... didn't happen. Just another Jewish conspiracy." Denying climate change is an ideological point of view, and it has nothing at all to do with scientific research, most of which is ideologically neutral. This planet is a dangerous, unstable place ... the Universe is even scarier ... human activity is quickly making things worse.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

I cannot argue with the deforestation issues, but as far as other things go....the scientists have been producing statistics that have been shown to be flawed.
And really, if governments were serious about making sustainable energy a central issue, surely they would choose to invest in something which is more efficient than those useless wind turbines.....they have to be switched off when the winds are too high. How ridiculous is that.

Recycling, well that is something I have always done.
I grew up just after the war and we never threw anything away which could be re-used.
We recycled long before there was a requirement to do so.

There has always been fluctuations in climate.....the ozone layer was supposed to have a thundering great hole in it.....but this over the last few years seems to have got smaller.

What is the point exactly of us trying to limit CO2 emissions when what we produce is something in the region of 2%.......while India and China do not sign up to any kind of control over their industrial emissions.
You may say that every little helps, but my question is.....does it?
I do not deny the holocaust.
Nor do I see my view as being ideological. I am just very very sceptical of research, researchers, research methods.....because in the main they tend to prove what the commissioners of the research want it to show.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Probably Liverpool, the guy (back left) is trying to have his trainers away! :eek: :D

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

ill just check but i dont think you can be scousist yet although scouse may now fall under race category

at least you didnt suggest they wouldnt have tried nicking his footwear if he had been wearing work boots :eek:

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

i do hope the 5p charge dosnt apply to all plastic bags if folk with a colostomy get a bout of the shats it could bankrupt them :eek:

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Give it time mate, give it time.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

I never denied that climate change is happening and neither did I deny the Holocaust but I am at a loss as to the latter's relevance to this debate.

I don't doubt that man's actions are speeding up the effect but the point I was making is that climate change would happen anyway otherwise we would still be under a thick sheet of ice. As micro-organisms started to grow they emitted gases which started to affect the chemical balance of the earth. This effect continued to increase for millions of years as new species started to evolve. Man's contribution to the effect has been much faster but the effect itself was around long before man had evolved. The climate of the earth would still be changing even if man had never set foot here.

Volcanos spewing millions of tonnes of toxic gases into the atmosphere have had far more of an effect than man could ever do and have been a major cause of our planet's evolution and topography. Everything in nature evolves and as time passes, other effects will be noticed, as the sun loses it's mass by burning off energy, the ice caps will melt, sea levels will rise and changes in tidal streams will affect weather patterns.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

I am sure back in 80's some supermarkets charged for stronger bags anyway as i recall.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

For 6d you can get a 'Bag for Life'. They last for ages and when they wear out they give you a new one. Been using them for last two years.
Only problem is you've got to remember to take them with you, soon becomes a habit.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

in 1965 maybe lol :D

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

I think maybe you are talking at cross purposes....and I sincerely doubt that you could have got one of those in 1965......1925 maybe, but that would be backyard rates :)

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

i was born just at decimalization and my knowledge of money before that mainly revolves from what i found in my grans button box :)

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Yes, you can tell!

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

:) Sainsbury's charge 5p for a stronger bag than the old see threw ones ,Lidls 3p bags have gone up to 5p but the bigger stronger ones are 6p and better value..:)

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

i do remeber been told that for 6 punce you could take a date out and have money left over for a bag of chips at the end of a night

i suppose when im a grandpa i will have similar tales about a £50 note lol :eek:

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

I didn't see any of the supermarkets using brown paper bags when I was over there a few weeks ago. Though I do regret not taking advantage of all the free plastic bags I could have brought back from Walmart while I had the chance, would have kept me in free bags for quite some time.

The check outs where all similar to this:-

No restrictions on how many bags you took, no guilt passed on to customers about killing the World, just get on and enjoy your shopping.

Oh, and 'Have a nice day, y'all come back soon'.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

collected my order from asda today and there was one item the size of a toothbrush in a bag all on its own

naturally they charged for the carrier bag

5p or 6p isnt really worthy of a storm inside to complain but i did muster up a "whats up couldnt fit it in to one of the half empty bags then ?" remark

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Are Asda still doing the bags for life at 6p?

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

yes

in fact they dont have the 5p ones on display so you have to ask and wait for a 5p one at the self checkout

where they used to be so customers could easily and quickly access them to pack tehir shopping is now always empty but the 6p ones and the more expensive ones are still under the conveyor belt

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Aldi bags are IMO a lot better - stronger & nicer looking.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

the handles snap off very easily from the asda ones iv noticed aldis are stronger too

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

We bought "For Life" bags in France, a couple of them are around 10 years old now and still fully serviceable - cost was 1E then.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Naaah....with your track record at supermarket checkouts Wizz, it's stretching credibility that you be invited back.

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

if only they made cars to the same standard

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

Just been to my local £ shop, first intention was to get some filters and a can of gas to refill all my empty lighters at home.
Second thought was, I haven't brought a carrier bag and to buy one is 5p.
So, as an alternative I bought filters and five throw away plastic lighters.
The tips and the lighters fit into my pockets more easily obviously a saving, of that environment destroying plastic bag. But is it? I have 5 refillable lighters at home each could be used again if I was given a bag to contain my purchases, instead, they will be sent to land fill because throw away plastic lighters are so cheap why should I refill the others?
I wonder, which contains more plastic?

Here's a quick thought, the shop I used said EVERYTHING A POUND, if that's the case how come the bags are only 5p?
Surely they should be offering me 20 bags for a pound just to keep everything right?

Re: 5p for a carrier bag
 

maybe they should do a buy one item get the next one for 95p then charge the 5p for a bag and even things up