That Tesco over here will charge 35p per online order to cover NI's BS plastic bag tax. With it coming in at 5p per bag normally, you might as well get a load of them on an enormous shop and then use them like every sensible person does, which nullifies just about every argument around the scheme anyway

I really hope the rest of the UK calls foul on this scam - the price goes up to 10p a bag in a year IIRC. And really, what's the point with rules like this

http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/baglevy?sssd ... 3_06_04_P6

Idiotic scumbag no-mark MLA... argh!

Have you tried the green delivery option? I do that every time. You get 1 green club card point for every 10 items, they deliver in crates, and you still get the odd bag. My last shop I got 4 bags on a bag less shop, because they put substitutes in a bag, frozen in bag etc. I still use my bags for rubbish anyway. I think most people do.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk.

Yeah, I use it anyway, it's just the money-grabbing scam predicated on BS that pisses me off.

If you are reusing the bags and ordered without bags why should you pay for them? While I do think that we need to cut the waste and it is not you that the tax is meant to hurt. I know many people who get the bags and simply put them into the bin when they are home. Mine go into the bin eventually but with rubbish inside. It takes me two weeks to fill one. With all the recycling I do and buying loose veg using linen bags, only buying what food I actually need so I do not need to throw away then it takes time to fill a bag. So yes I can understand why it pisses you off, but it is for the lazy who do not consider recycling that the tax is meant.

I should point out the tax is my gripe, it's just an idiotic 'be seen to be doing something' move that'll helpfully bring in a load of money that won't even get spent where needed. Seriously, how can you charge for plastic bags when there aren't any bins on a 2 mile stretch, for instance?

And lets not forget it won't do the supermarkets etc any harm in the 'cycle'.

That movie tie-ins extend to the world of cosmetics. The firm OPI has a line of nail polish branded with Skyfall, The Amazing Spider-Man, Oz The Great And Powerful and so on. Bonkers. http://www.opi.com

I doubt that it will bring in much money, it will also be relatively expensive to monitor. Even banning free plastic bags in shops creates other problems. The councils could reduce the size of domestic refuse bins to force more recycling. I am not against their use, I use them for rubbish once home, but clearly much of the public are simply too lazy to change their ways and a tax might be the last resort. Though limiting them to one per customer in stores might be better. No tax but still better than a outright ban.

It'll bring in money alright - roughly 1.8 or 9 million people in this country at 5p a go and it applies in almost every shop, rising to 10p soon enough. And it won't make a blind bit of difference environmentally because Tesco and the like will still buy in the same amount of bags, and the same amount of bags will still go to landfill

Got a source for that?

I'd ban plastic bags tomorrow if I could.

Their bag orders will be in bulk so why stop? People will still use bags for their bins at home, on days where you're not gonna carry a full-on 'fag for life' bag (my mate's opinion ) around, clearing away dog sh1t and every other instance where we still use them.

I really wish there was a better alternative, but I might as well use what's already been produced, and I hate the fact that it's pure greenwash from a snivelling little sh1tbag of an MLA.

We bought a bunch of Co-op cotton bags. We must have about eight now, and I'm always on the lookout to acquire another one or two. We use them for shopping - and they've outlasted those recycled reusable plastic bags the other supermarkets do - as well as when we need a strong bag to carry anything around for a while.

Of course, if you order online, they won't ship it in cotton bags. Therein lies the problem. The solution ought to be the US style brown bag, which can then be recycled or reused at the customer's whim.

Plastic bags that genuinely biodegrade, such as the ones the Co-op still dishes out, are one solution. We used a couple to cover over cable ends out in the garden once. Only a few months passed before they had disintegrated due to UV and weather exposure.

In Wales all plastic bags are 5p, the money (apparently) goes to charity.

Because they're not shifting them?



Or they could get into using the degradable corn starch bags instead.



There's cotton or string alternatives that fold up tiny and can be stuck in a pocket. Or you know, regular bags.



Again, the degradable bags are fine. Even some newspaper would probably do in a pinch.



There are several better alternatives, and if you're going to use what's been produced then make sure it's recycled properly and not just gone to landfill (or ends up in the sea).

They'll shift the bags alright, I don't know many people who actually remember their bag for life on a big shop never mind a 'top-up'. Plus, it's not just the supermarkets, it's every shop. I'd guess few people can be arsed carrying them in relation to what's 'expected'.

Look, you're preaching to the choir here, I keep all sorts of stuff for re-using*, but I'm not the average person in that sense. And ripping people off while not doing a damn thing that's meaningful will only make things worse.

* Blockbuster envelopes, envelopes for scrawling on, all the packaging from internet buys...

The idea is that the general public think 'How much for a bag? [LIFTED] that.' and move over to better alternatives. If it fails, I'd lay the blame at a lazy population.