Firstly I would ask the question of the parts of the UK that have had the system in place; "has this made a difference to your bag consumption and also have you seen a cleaner environment as a consequence".

Second I refuse to call them single use bags as I have always made them work for a variety of uses and they only get thrown out when they are beyond practical use.

I think that charging 5p for a bag is kind of fudging round the real problem. If these bags are so polluting then the government should ban them outright and encourage people to use bags made of material which is more durable, sustainable and when worn out has less impact on the environment.

It's a bit of a change for me as I shop a fair amount on the spur of the moment and like most blokes don't carry bags. Having spoken to a few chaps, they thinks 15p-20p for a few bags is not going to put them off using the bags provided by the supermarkets.

When buying fish and meat will protective bags be supplied free to stop the fluids leaking onto other food items in your bags or will you need to bring additional bags for that purpose?

Next up I would like to see a drastic rethink of the motor vehicle. Let's have a focus on efficiency as opposed to performance, let's have the government set new stricter limits on vehicles. For example a vehicle should have a minimum mpg of 50 any vehicles that don't comply can't be sold in the UK, and yes, they all have to be independently tested and verified.

Let's also have a focus on improving public transport, making it greener and more accessible to all.

End of part one.

Never been a fan of those plastic jobs (couple of  bottles of wine in 'em and they're buggered).

I stick to my ancient, but reliable, wicker basket

Everything you buy is covered in plastic !!

The bag you throw those plastics into is made from plastic.

Why do we not have biodegradable shopping bags?

http://www.co-operative.coop/c...-hundreds-of-stores/

Thanks again El 

It does rather defeat the purpose of a ban when supermarkets are still putting stuff in polystyrene containers,flat bases for meat etc.Some are trying to sell fresh stuff loose etc .Mushrooms are sold in paper bags ,sadly everything else in the fruit/veg section is bagged in plastic,loose or otherwise.I'm old enough to remember meat, veg,potatoes etc  sold in paper bags.However these were sold from local butchers/shops etc,not bulk buy from supermarkets etc.We had shopping bags, masde from material made that lasted years ,net bags too that lasted years.

Today on my way home from the match I went into Sainsbury's for a few essentials. Put a few things into my basket and then realised I had not brought out my bag for life!!!

As a punishment and a reminder to me I carried three items home after replacing some of the others.

That'll teach me 

You 5p hoodlum !!  

Yes, exactly Katty  Its a bit of a gimmick bringing in the carrier bag charge to reduce plastic consumption when the ruddy shopping's full of it 

I remember it too Katty .....

They will never go out of fashion if I carry on forgetting to take them with me/out of the car every bleeding time! 

I hate it most when shopping for clothes....would you like a bag for your very pretty and very delicate new jumper? Nah, I'll just shove it me bag with the advent calendar and bottle of water I just bought from WHSmith. 

You have an advent calendar already

I haven't got one yet!

I usually leave it to the last minute and end up with an un-christmassy chocolate one from Tesco. I spotted some traditional glittering picture ones today, so grabbed it while I could. 

Ditto Ducky.

I have a car boot full of the Bags For Life and, nine times out of ten, I forget to take them with me.

Just carry a couple of 'ordinary' bags in your bag.A couple of times these past two weeks I've brought out an M&S bag in the Sainsbugs offshoot  

Me too Ducky  Usually, the only ones left are the choccy ones. Then I eat all the choccies in one day and ruin the calendar 

Are they gonna charge you for clothes bags too? 

Yep.  In any other shop it seems quite normal to just put your purchases in a bag that you've brought with you, but it feels very weird when it's clothes for some reason. They fold it up all nicely, and then pass it over to you to stuff it in your bag  

Today I bought something from Dorothy Perkins, and bought a 5p bag....then bought 3 things from Next, which I went into my DP bag. I mean, surely Next can't be happy about me carry their clothes around in a bag that advertises their rivals.  

It's quite an expensive way to buy chocolate.  

Hey....I've brought out a few times within the last two weeks an M&S bag in a Sainsbugs Local......they're all shops ain't they  

Tough! If they don't like it then they can complain to Cameron and Co.

I certainly have no intentions of aligning my bag use to match the particular shop I'm in!

So are selection boxes.

I take great delight in using an Aldi bag in Asda and Tesco's as they are killing the bigger supermarchés

We have a huge stock of German cotton bags and English hemp/jute bags which we have used for years! :smug:

Originally Posted by Ducky:

       

Originally Posted by Sprout:

Are they gonna charge you for clothes bags too? 

Yep.  In any other shop it seems quite normal to just put your purchases in a bag that you've brought with you, but it feels very weird when it's clothes for some reason. They fold it up all nicely, and then pass it over to you to stuff it in your bag  

 

Today I bought something from Dorothy Perkins, and bought a 5p bag....then bought 3 things from Next, which I went into my DP bag. I mean, surely Next can't be happy about me carry their clothes around in a bag that advertises their rivals.  

       


You can actually see them glaring at you when you get out a rivals bag

It's funny I think 

Originally Posted by Ducky:

       

Originally Posted by Sprout:

Are they gonna charge you for clothes bags too? 

Yep.  In any other shop it seems quite normal to just put your purchases in a bag that you've brought with you, but it feels very weird when it's clothes for some reason. They fold it up all nicely, and then pass it over to you to stuff it in your bag  

 

Today I bought something from Dorothy Perkins, and bought a 5p bag....then bought 3 things from Next, which I went into my DP bag. I mean, surely Next can't be happy about me carry their clothes around in a bag that advertises their rivals.  

       


You can actually see them glaring at you when you get out a rivals bag

 lol

People have been using the sturdier type of carrier bags from a variety of supermarkets when they do their grocery shopping for ages now.  For every person shopping in M&S with a Sainsbury's bag someone else will be in Sainbury's with an M&S bag.  The company's marketing people may not be too happy about someone shoving their products into a rival's bag but if I was a shop assistant it wouldn't bother me. They probably do the same thing themselves