[Closed] The 5p bag charge....

Measures like the 5p bag charge are a drop in the ocean of what needs to happen. Major changes in behaviour are required if our grandchildren are to thrive. Unfortunately, miserable baby boomers are running things now and the 5p charge looks like the best we'll get for a while.
Having a bag for life (often made by super low wage workers in the third world then shipped over here, leaving a decent carbon footprint behind it) ensures only that you'll be going to hell with a dumb, self satisfied smile on your face.
Until we get a grip of how we package, consume and waste products, no meaningful progress will be made. All this involves both major behaviour changes on the part of the consumer (unlikely) and potential damage to corporate profits (never gonna happen).

[i]I wish fast food places would do it too.[/i]

McDonalds should give a discount for people who bring their packaging back for recycling. Free shitty hamburger for each bag returned or something. Anything which would help stop the scumbags chucking them in the street.

Surprised that the 2p bag charge has done well, actually. The staff in my local Tescos always seem very surprised when I say I have a bag.

All packaging is waste. It should be law for it to be recyclable.

[url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oceans-plastic-fish-2050_us_569e9963e4b00f3e986327a0 ]heard this story on the radio today.[/url]

Sad Monday fact 🙁

All packaging is waste. It should be law for it to be recyclable.

And recycled, and of the absolute minimum amount required. Don't understand why this isn't already the law.

take your own mug to Starbucks

McDonalds should give a discount for people who bring their packaging back for recycling. Free shitty hamburger for each bag returned or something. Anything which would help stop the scumbags chucking them in the street.

I think it was on here that we discussed a machine that reads your car reg at the drive through with ANPR and quickly prints it to all the packaging and the bag going into your order. Of course it is used so the staff make sure you get the right items but also when your waste is found dumped in a layby 👿

Or your a code linked to your debit card if walking in and paying by card.

Litter and non-recyclable packaging drives me mad. My partner and I do make an active decision of what goes in our trolley based on the packaging and will put things back on the shelf if we feel it's excessive and overly un recyclable.

Unfortunately everything you can do as an individual at home feels like a drop in the ocean. We are designing our new house to have as much natural materials as possible and be as environmentally friendly but then you see what is going one elsewhere in the country and world and you just feel like you are wasting your time. Quite depressing.

Some genius festival organiser started charging a 20p deposit on beer glasses a few years back. Course, everyone still threw their cups on the floor but an underclass soon emerged that'd happily spend £200 for their festival ticket then spend all day collecting cups.

We affectionately refer to them as Wombles.

I'm all for them working to help fund their stay. Some are a bit mercenary though, they'll have your cups without asking if you're not careful. Generally a minority though.

Or you could just re-use proper bags 🙄

We've got lots of fabric ones we've had for many years, but our favourites are plastic bags from a German supermarket which we bought over 5 years ago.

The biggest change with the 5p thing here in Wales I think was the fact that they stopped automatically handing them out. So if you have three or four items, you ended up carrying them in your hands.

And for all those whining about 5p - remember it goes to charity. £22m raised in Wales as of last year. Hard to complain about that, don't you think?

It hasn't all worked.

Ocado still do home delivery in plastic bags. They charge you 5p and then credit it when you return bags.

I have complained but got no where fast !

It must make the security dudes' job harder- I'm always forgetting bags and doing the Juggle of Shame or packing stuff into my pockets or down my jacket like a shoplifter...

We hated the 5p charge when it first came! So much so we went and bought a load in bulk from a wholesaler in protest HA!

Lots of people have reusable water bottles, coffee cups and more anf the world still turns. It's also a damm sight better that using the wrong thing for the job.

All packaging is waste. It should be law for it to be recyclable.

This. In Manchester we've just had the size of our general waste (grey) bins downsized.

However, given that we already recycle everything we can and that the rest of the packaging can't be recycled (yoghurt pots, plastic trays from meat etc.) we're now stuck with a bin that will easily be filled over the 2 week collection period. I fear a lot of dumped waste in alley ways etc.

£10 deposit on every cigarette butt....

Measures like the 5p bag charge are a drop in the ocean of what needs to happen. Major changes in behaviour are required if our grandchildren are to thrive. Unfortunately, miserable baby boomers are running things now and the 5p charge looks like the best we'll get for a while.
Having a bag for life (often made by super low wage workers in the third world then shipped over here, leaving a decent carbon footprint behind it) ensures only that you'll be going to hell with a dumb, self satisfied smile on your face.
Until we get a grip of how we package, consume and waste products, no meaningful progress will be made. All this involves both major behaviour changes on the part of the consumer (unlikely) and potential damage to corporate profits (never gonna happen).

This x 1,000,000

We've developed a global economy where it makes financial sense to manufacture our consumer goods halfway across the world from where they are consumed, and then ship them. Then we feel all smug with our artisan knitted shopping bags bemoaning all that nasty pollution being created in Asia. And of course with the bag tax, we all feel like we're "doing something" to help. It's railings for the war effort all over again*

*If anyone is unaware, most of the Victorian railings removed to "help the war effort" sat around for a while and then were quietly dumped at sea. Even when it was clear that the railings weren't being used in anything like the quantities being collected, collection continued because the communities losing their railings had a morale boost from helping the war effort - I guess a summary of the feeling might be "we're all in it together"

I'm sure that when I first became interested in what used to be called "green" issues, the mantra was "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle", and not "still buy the same amount of stuff and then throw away a lot of it"...

5p a carrier bag?

50 small bin liners, costs about £1.

A snip at under half the price of a carrier!

Neither are recyclable.

And for all those whining about 5p - remember it goes to charity. £22m raised in Wales as of last year. Hard to complain about that, don't you think?

Only goes to charity if its a normal style bag. Supermarkets are sneaky round my way. They hide the 5p normal ones away out of sight and only put out bag for life ones which are between 6p to 9p. They get to pocket the cash for these ones themselves.

The shops don't have to give the 5p to charity. The government 'suggest' that is donated to good causes, but they can do what they like with it.
I think most of the big supermarkets give it to charity in some way.

Coming from Eastern European background where there is no shop that gives you free bags, I was amazed at some shops. It felt cool for a bit, knowing I don't have to worry about a bag. A bit later, I started to hate it. No, I don't need 3 bags for 3 items (like milk, eggs and meat). Yes, I am sure I will be okay with one!

I was really happy about the 5p charge. I love the food bins being provided too as I now can dispose food separately. Same with dry recyclables.

Supermarkets are sneaky round my way.

Still £22m though.

take your own mug to Starbucks

There are already enough mugs in Starbucks. Usually hipster dickheads drinking overpriced coffee.