research shows the bags are effectively “bags for a week”, with UK households buying 54 a year in what was described as a “huge rise”.

Does anyone believe this though?

Does anyone believe this though?

I don’t.

Does anyone believe this though?

The ability of people to leave their brains at home when entering a supermarket is quite incredible, it wouldn’t surprise me.

research shows the bags are effectively “bags for a week”, with UK households buying 54 a year in what was described as a “huge rise”.

Does anyone believe this though?

I shop at a big Asda in The North (don’t hate me, it’s huge and within walking distance).

The average punter there is buying new Bags for Life every single time. It’s horriffic. 😩

Old ice cream tub for sarnies.

Why don’t you believe it? It was based on data obtained from the supermarkets themselves and compiled by Greenpeace/EIA. I’m not entirely sure what benefit it is to the supermarkets to over report their plastic use.

The data I referred to early on relative resource use of different bags is an EA study that published a few years back.

My experience is that almost no one buys bags for life in supermarkets. Maybe partly because the plastic bag legislation is a couple of years older in Scotland, maybe because we are staying true to stereotypes

chakaping

Does anyone believe this though?

To turn it around, what data/evidence would you believe? And from where? Do you ‘prefer’ anecdotal or studies? Or ‘just a feeling I get when I read/see stuff’?

In 2019, 10 companies representing 94.4% of the grocery retail market reported over 1.5 billion bags for life, equivalent to about 16 million per 1% market share. This is an increase of about 26% on a market share basis, representing approximately 54 bags for life per household in the UK from the 10 supermarkets.
It is clear from this data that many people are simply swapping ‘single-use’ plastic bags for these plastic bags for ‘life’.
Some companies reported an enormous jump in sales of plastic bags for life. Iceland reported a tenfold increase from 3.5 million to 34 million, while Tesco reported an increase from 430 million to 713 million. Other companies reporting an increase in sales include Aldi (from 52 to 84.6 million) and Co-op (28.2 to 29.2 million).
Over the past year, there has been a 26% increase in sales of ‘bags for life’, representing 54 per household in the U

https://eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/Checking-Out-on-Plastics-2-report.pdf

Happy to discuss any possible errors/bad data/here. Where to begin?

Calling them ‘bags for life’ is misleading as they won’t last forever. Also use two supermarket plastic heavy duty bags which have been used for years but not sure whether these are still available. I see plenty of folk bringing their own bags in all different types of shops, keep several in my (large) handbag anyway.

TJ and Cinnamon Girl your fallacy of the day is:

https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/anecdotal

The data, provided by the people who sell the bags, and compiled by an environmental NGO paints and a different picture.

I can only comment on what I’ve seen, living in a high density area.

Wouldn’t it be good if these bags were truly “for life” rather than a couple of years?

I’ve been using the same box to take my lunch to work every day since 1997. 23 years of daily use and the lid’s still tight enough that i can take soup in it. I see no reason that I won’t be having my lunch in it the day I retire.

It was part of  a house wraming present (in a big box of kitchen stuff) from my friends uncle

It’s an Addis 2.0l  rectangular Foodsaver.  Kinda like this

Mine is a black one, with a black lid. It’s the only black one i’ve ever seen and it’ll probably outlive me.

The irony, in case it’s not obvious is that the ‘bags for life’ are made of much thicker plastic and often contain 10-40x as much plastic as the older style plastic bags. I.e. you have to use them 10 times to ‘break even’ vs the older thin plastic bags.

Perchy doing right, at least as far as not being wasteful 👍🏼 Talking of waste – I have tons of these PinkApple Matricpac takeout containers from many years of monthly takeouts from local chinese takeaway. if anyone wants 1 or 2 PM me. I use them for refrig/freezing meals in batches. Ideal for sarnies/salad. Not as strong as tupperware stuff but nearly as and they just keep going. Two sizes.

(Thinks, wonder if local takeaway would let us use reusable containers with our names on)

and it’ll probably outlive me.

Unless it is incinerated you can be sure of that. It will mot decompose. Ever.

I would say the best thing to buy would be some second hand ORIGINAL Tupperware stuff. I have relatives using that stuff and still going strong 30-40 years after they were purchased.
I don’t know why plastic containers are so crap nowadays, the original Tupperware stuff is indestructible.

As I said earlier, I don’t buy ice cream for eating at home, and I’ve not had a takeaway for years, so none of those ones either.

and I’ve not had a takeaway for years, so none of those ones either.

Why not? Recycling second-user makes more sense than buying new on the face of it*

*With the (arguably important) exceptions that buying and using new biodegradable options *can* be better for a number of reasons including

1. Helping grow and encourage sustainable products/industry/design/businesses
2. Inspiring and ‘normalising’ better options in the workplace.

Food for thought.

Why not?

Cos we don’t eat takeaways, fairly obvious from that statement. It’s not some kind of eco choice, I just prefer my own food and enjoy cooking.

Cos we don’t eat takeaways,

my mistake – thought was in response to my offer to distribute/recycle some 👍🏼

Wouldn’t it be good if these bags were truly “for life” rather than a couple of years?

Not really, they’d be so thick and heavy that the resource use would be mad.

If you compare an old style platic bag that was used once to get shopping then as a bin bag, to a cotton bag, you would need to use the cotton bag ~200 times for it to have a lower primary resource use. I think you’re coming at this from the assumption that all plastic bad, when actually in some cases it might be the least worst option.

Personally I’m quite good at using bags for life until the arse falls out of them, most people aren’t. A good solution would be to either up the cost of them significantly, or more effectively flip the incentive so customers get a discount when they bring their own bag. People have a strange aversion to “missing out” on a refund, while they can suck up extra costs more readily.

I use the Systema boxes, we have a couple of the deep ones and a couple of single sandwich boxes which all fit proper sized bread, the soup mug is good for transporting as well and hasn’t been too ravaged by the microwave.

If you did want any takeaway tubs I could give you some of the huge pile I have in my loft, I keep them for odds and sods boxes so could give you some, I usually pass through twice a week. We tend to use them for leftovers or freezing meals.

I don’t know why plastic containers are so crap nowadays, the original Tupperware stuff is indestructible.

Nah, it gets gubbed eventually, my inlaws had stuff from the early 80’s that the lids were all split on. As soon as the lip goes it’s game over. Some went that sticky was as well IIRC. Takes a fair amount to do that mind.

Wouldn’t it be good if these bags were truly “for life” rather than a couple of years?

Not really, they’d be so thick and heavy that the resource use would be mad.

Why assume they need to be plastic? We have both heavy cotton and heavy duty plastic and either does fine, I’ve carted tool boxes about in them with no issues.

It’s not the bags that are the problem as opposed to the end users.

Why assume they need to be plastic? We have both heavy cotton and heavy duty plastic and either does fine, I’ve carted tool boxes about in them with no issues.

Cotton is the most resource intensive material to make shopping bags out of, that’s why. I just assumed that we would prefer to make shopping bags in the most efficient way.