One of the things which catches U.S. tourists out here in Britishland is that retail outlets frequently do not offer bags to carry out any purchases — or, if they do, they charge 5p each for the wretched things. And it works, if the goal is to reduce trash.
Now Tesco is apparently doing away with the cheap flimsy ones, and is going is issue sturdier bags — for 10p each — which can survive multiple uses.
Now, as Doc Russia reminds me, this is all very well; but it should be noted that the number of disposable bags may well have gone down, but that has been offset by a concomitant rise in sickness from e. coli bacteria infection. Yup… traces of bacteria from fruits and especially fresh meats will stay behind in the bag and be transferred to future purchases.
So if you’re going to do the Green Thing, wash that bag, y’all. And by the way, I’ve been doing this for a long time and let me tell you: canvas bags work better than any of the sturdier plastic things, which don’t handle the washing machine experience well at all. You just have to remember to put the damn things back in the car before you go out to do their shopping (something I fail to do quite often).
I first encountered this while in Santa Barbara, CA for a wedding a few years back. I was checking out at a convenience store and the clerk asked me if I wanted a bag, I said yes, and she said something along the lines of “They’re ten cents each, there’s a law that we have to charge for them.” I responded with some sort of polite disbelief, a comment that we don’t do that in Philadelphia but, sure, charge me, I need the bag. From behind me I hear a voice say “We care about not polluting our oceans and waterways in California.” I turned my head and saw a desiccated 50-something, well-dressed woman wearing a smug, purse-lipped smirk, arms crossed in front of her. Pretty much everything I dislike about CA. I looked at her, smiled, and said “Interesting. In Philly we don’t throw our garbage in the water. Seems easier to me.”
Best response Evah!
My favorite grocery store in Florida offers reusable bags, but not very many people use them. The ones that do tend to bring in bags that look like they were left under the car, not in it.
I am shocked – shocked! – that in the UK you have to buy a bag to carry your purchases. You mean they don’t deliver them?
Many supermarkets do. Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Waitrose, etc.
What, there aren’t herds of itinerant dickensian waifs crawling over needy widows, pensioners and each other for the opportunity to schlepp your purchases for you for tuppence? Or did you cane them away?
Kim may not have, but he certainly has that look.(Heh)
My local store uses paper bags on request. They stand up way better than the flimsy plastic ones (which often don’t survive the trip to the parking lot) and pack better in the back of my Earth Killer SUV. At home we use them as trash can liners, line the bottom of the recycle bin, and CINCHOUSE packs our tax records in them each year before they go into a box.
I never have understood why plastic is considered more “green” than a renewable quickly bio-degradable paper bag. I have a feeling it started as plastic being cheaper (to buy, transport and store in large quantities) and some genius in the industry manged to con an Eco-warrior into it being better (probably by lying and saying the paper comes from old growth rain forest or similar) to improve their market position.
(and I’m not being sarcastic when I say genius. That’s the kind of self-serving con job I can truly respect)
Why didn’t I think of that? Nice idea.
And, having done all we can to ensure we look after Gaia, the jolly supermarket puts its meat on Styrofoam trays, its cakes in plastic boxes, and uses metres of cling-wrap: and our biggest chains whisk away all the cardboard cartons so that the customer cannot avail herself of them. There is an irony lurking in there
Odd. Virtually all the websites detailing the plastic bag scams by these idiot politicians come back as 404’s now. It’s only been a couple years since the locals started with this idiocy, and that is when I bookmarked them.
One study suggested that perhaps half a dozen deaths/ year in San Fran since their bag ban.
They’re not made from oil, but from natural gas. The paper versions consume a lot more energy and produce much more pollution during manufacturing.
The reusable plastic bags are mostly made in China. I don’t know what the reusable ones are made from.