Do you pay 5p for a plastic bag or take your own?
The 5p charge on carrier bags is set to be extended under plans to tackle the “throwaway culture” in a 25-year Environment Plan being published later this week.
Corner shops and other retailers with fewer than 250 employees are currently exempted from the charge in England, but Theresa May and Michael Gove will set out plans for the levy to cover almost all plastic bags.
Prime Minister Mrs May said she wanted her Government to take a stand against the “profligate” use of natural resources as she briefed her Cabinet about the plan.
At the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Mr Gove told colleagues that the introduction of the 5p charge on single-use plastic bags had contributed to a reduction of nearly 90% in their use, in a clear demonstration of what can be achieved by targeted official action.
What are your views? Since the introduction of a charge for a plastic bag, are you much more likely to take your own bag shopping with you or are you happy to spend 5p on a plastic bag? Has the charge made you more aware of the environmental issues? What more do you think the government should be doing to help save the environment?
Do you pay 5p for a plastic bag or take your own?
274 people have already voted, what's your opinion? I pay 5p for a bag I take my own shopping bagWhat are your views?
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Carrier bags should be banned end of.
They are a huge litter problem and cause untold harm to wildlife.
Did they know something that we did not know about at that time ??
Possibly, what goes around comes around.
I remember, way way back, that M&S used to put your purchase into a branded paper bag. Why did that stop?
The solutions to all the plastic problems and over packaging is not rocket science. Yes, the public can make a huge difference, of course they can, and quite easily, however, the industry, globally, needs to stop shirking it’s responsibility for causing the problems in the first place.
But in the matter of massive waste plastic surely the state is starting with the monkey and not the organ grinder. It's no use whipping the consumer when manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers are to blame for this sea of waste plastic. We have no choice in the matter.
Take Aldi, for example. Everything on sale is pre-packed. Consumers must dispose of that packaging. Stores have refused to accept back their packaging when I've offered it to them. Thus the consumer has no choice.
A couple of years ago a new fridge arrived in so much packaging, broken into shreds it filled our 80 litre recycle bin. I could go on ...
I heartily agree with Viking, there is a price to pay for sustaining our bloated Western civilisation. Perhaps we should learn from E.F. Schumacher - Small is Beautiful, or to put it another way, less is more.
Just as an after thought ... a few weeks ago I invested in a new Gillette razor from Morrisons. The clear, resilient packing couldn't be cut by kitchen scissors; I tried garden shears ... nope! It took a bolt cutter with 4' arms to get in!! Is that necessary, because I needed all these extra tools just to get a shave?
Being a cynic I foresee that there will be a change over in shopping bags to bamboo/hessian/plaited vine leaves etc. etc. The crunch will then come in years to come when the devastating news breaks that forests have been denuded to supply these materials to make shopping bags !!
Which ever way you turn in this modern world, there is a price to pay in trying to keep our planet intact.
There was no litter on the streets, none to be seen in hedge rows, no chewing gum or fag ends to be stepped on. They are, or were before the EU, a clean people, quite unlike those now inhabiting this island.
In Slovenia in 2001 people took a jug or wine bottles to the local off licence to have them re-filled. Again, no evidence of litter on streets or in countryside.
There's almost no traffic on the single track road on which I live. Yet almost daily I collect litter, including used doggy bags and children's nappies, from the common land in front of the house. Someone threw 12' of 4" bamboo pole in our garden. Dogs loved it, as they did playing tug of war with a condom.
We see so few vehicles, so where does it all come from? That bamboo pole didn't float in on the wind.
We have become the dirty man of Europe and I'm ashamed.
During Spring, Summer and Autumn my wife and I venture to the sea side twelve miles away. Southwold, an up market former fishing port beloved of the well heeled with attitude. By midday day the few streets look like an urban slum; the beach is littered with rubbish. We made it to the end of the pier this year to see a seventh wave taking out to sea a long line of detritus. That will be deposited somewhere.
A mile or so away from Southwold is Easton Bavents. Wikipedia shows a picture of the cliffs. My wife and I have seen tipper trucks dumping industrial waste into the sea from there.
Churchill quoted Shakespeare's Richard the Second when he referred to this island as being a 'sceptred isle, the royal throne of kings.' It's no longer the royal throne of kings and most certainly is not a sceptre isle.
Oh, what have we done?
Something as simple as re using shopping bags should be on the list
I say " forced to" there is still far to many plastic bags about , i use fabrics bags that can be washed and reused for years .
There is also to much packaging used these days on wrapping food that doesn't need wrapping , it all adds to the cost , let's get back to washing our own food before we use it and less packaging please .
I remember supermarkets used to place empty boxes at till ends, very useful, why don't they do that anymore?
In a few months time, I expect to be fully trained to take my bags into the shops with me. Perhaps plastic bag aversion therapy should be introduced.
Just a thought, why are supermarkets still selling bags for 5 and 10p when they used to be free, not a deterrent in my view, Stop making them, full stop.