The plastic carrier bag charge is already failing to succeed
By Koalemos
@Asylum (47893)
Manchester, England
October 11, 2015 5:58am CST
Here in the United Kingdom the government has imposed a 5p charge on all plastic carrier bags provided by large retailers. It is being left to the discretion of each retailer to select a charity to donate the proceeds to.
The whole purpose behind introducing this scheme is to limit the vast volume of plastic in circulation, which we all know is non biodegradable.
On the face of it this does seem a very good idea and should be expected to reduce the waste by a great amount, but I am already finding issues with this.
I have a practice of using these bags to store trash, which is then placed in the dustbin. The idea of having loose trash in the dustbin does not appeal to me because it simply gets strewn around the street when the dustbin is being emptied.
The system only came into force on Monday, making almost a week so far, but I find that I have run out of available bags and naturally still have rubbish to dispose of. I am now using black plastic liners that can be bought quite inexpensively. I see no environmental benefits from buying plastic bags to use instead of using free ones supplied by the supermarkets.
13 people like this
11 responses
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
11 Oct 15
I use the plastic grocery bags in the dust bins as well and I am not going to stop that anytime soon so I would just pay for the bags. They need to come up with a better alternative for trash bags.
2 people like this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
11 Oct 15
The issue really arises from the way that the dustbins are emptied. The truck lifts up the dustbin and tips it over the rubbish containing sector of the vehicle, which means that without the trash being bagged it will be blown around the street.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502812)
• Italy
11 Oct 15
@Asylum The plastic bags they supply are for garbage ONLY and it is to reduce the quantity of garbage and oblige you to recycle. In the red bags we cannot put: glass, plastic bottles, cans, liquids, batteries, light bulbs. ALL those items must be put separately in different bins. A real pain!
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
11 Oct 15
I tend to stockpile carrier bags for reuse mostly for litter too, so yes the knock on effect of reducing the free supply is going to be counter-productive
1 person likes this
@Asylum (47893)
• Manchester, England
11 Oct 15
@Susan2015 I did this constantly when Asda tried this system several years ago, although now I keep one in my jacket pocket.
1 person likes this
@Tampa_girl7 (54739)
• United States
11 Oct 15
Fortunately our plastic bags are still free.
1 person likes this
@troyburns (1405)
• New Zealand
12 Oct 15
Many of the supermarkets in Australia and NZ also slap on a small plastic bag charge. The system seems to be working well. I've seen plenty of folks using their own green-friendly carriers instead and even for the customers sticking with plastic, the charge is a reminder that the bags are an environmental problem.
1 person likes this
@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
13 Oct 15
Yes, we use the plastic bag from supermarket to dispose our rubbish too.
If the government implements such stupid measure, I think there will be a big uproar.
Most of us live in flats, and we do not need big black garbage bags.
I think the change in your country will move the shoppers to shop from small retailers, especially for cheap items, eg bread, cereal, milk, just to get a plastic bag.
@topffer (42155)
• France
11 Oct 15
They will be completely forbidden in France for grocery shops next January. It is an European decision that should be applied in the EEC before January 2020. I also do not see a real environmental benefit for this measure, like for many others (by example the suppression of incandescent lamps easy to recycle to replace them with fluorescent lamps difficult to recycle, containing mercury, and unhealthy (emitting more UV able to put the skin at risk of cancers) to save a ridiculous amount of energy).
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64346)
• United Kingdom
12 Oct 15
It annoys me to have to pay 5p, even though the cost is very small. I have quite a lot in my cupboard and have transerred some to my car boot, so that I will have them near when shopping. I'll still have to remember to take them into the shop. Like you, I also use them for putting waste into the dustbin - it's far more hygienic.
@garymarsh6 (24078)
• United Kingdom
11 Oct 15
Yes we too utilise the plastic bag for rubbish too and under the kitchen sink there are thousands of them. I think at least £245,367.25 worth! :-)
@Fleura (35122)
• United Kingdom
11 Oct 15
In a way you're right, if you have to buy plastic bags for rubbish then there is no reduction in the overall number of plastic bags. But if people have to buy bags to put rubbish in, then they are probably going to put rubbish in them and put them in the bin, rather than just toss them out of the car window or drop them in the street or fling them in a hedge somewhere. Obviously if you always disposed of your plastic bags corrctly in the past then in your case, there is no environmental benefit, but there should be a beneficial effect on the behaviour of more careless people.
@Fleura (35122)
• United Kingdom
11 Oct 15
@Asylum I'vecertainly witnessed incidences of people buying one item (such as a packaged sandwich or pasty), the cashier putting it in a bag for them, and then a few yards down the road the person taking out the item to eat and dropping the bag on the pavement.
