h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In the Republic of Ireland, we have virtually eliminated plastic bags, by the government introducing a 15 cent tax on every plastic bag used. Irish people do not like paying taxes, so we stopped using the things, virtually overnight. We use recyclable paper bags, reusable indestructable "green bags", which look like cloth but are actually some sort of plastic, and cardboard boxes.

You should try and introduce a similar scheme in your country, wherever you are, before the world is buried in plastic.

It's not such a bad idea, that. Our kitchen is tiny enough without chucking loads of plastic bags in an already full corner. When we last visited Ikea, we bought one of those blue bags for 75p. A perfect size to fit a few Tesco bags' worth of shopping into

my enviro-fascist flatmate gets well narked by the wastefullness of placcy bags, and he has a point. Take your own bags with you when you shop! (folded into nice triangles)

Exactly. Apparently they take about 500 years to decompose properly.

I do take my own bags to the shops, and I often refuse bags if I can just carry the stuff in my arms. I do like to have a few lying around though, as they do come in useful. I never throw them away unless they are damaged, and I'd have to do that with a non-plastic bag anyway.

Most modern flimsy plastic bags are now made from degradable plastic and only last a few years. I got a shock when I stored a piece of greasy machinery in my attic. I put a plastic bag around the greasy axle to protect other things from it. In the space of about two years, the bag turned to dust.

I'll do without a bag if I've only got a couple of things too. At the works canteen, the dinner ladies seem to take it personally when I say I don't want a bag for a sandwich and an apple. The canteen is run by an oil company (the only one, to my knowledge) that actually recognises the need to be kind to the environment and encourages us all to recycle

The co-op opposite me has those biodegradeable bags. They last about 18 months, then start rotting away for another 18 months. I don't think I'll be folding any of those into cute triangles.

I couldn't be arsed doing the triangle thing - far better to see how many you can stuff into another shopping bag and take them to Tesco for recycling

I do it all the time now - and I even keep one in my car and one in my that I have for work. Just in case.

In belgium one of the main supermarket chains has introduced plastic boxes (like paper ones but more durable). They can be 'purchased' with bonuspoints you can collect when shopping. Very handy. They even adapted the shopping carts to fit them in. This pretty much eliminates the need for any bags while shopping.

Australia goes to the other extreme though (at least they did a few years back when I was there). There the staff of supermarkets will pack everything for you and in the process try to use as many bags as possible (I've had bags with only three or four items in it...). Not sure why, but they seem to like it

Rod

Some supermarkets here do boxes. That's ok if you've got somewhere to keep them, but not if you don't have lots of large storage areas.

The boxes I was talking about Are designed in such a way that they fit into each other. This way afer box nr 1 they only take up about 3cm more space in height. Very convenient. But yes, for the first box some floorspace is needed.

Rod

This is the most comments I've ever had for an entry and shows that people actually read them sometimes!

So nobody has actually been compelled to start folding their bags yet? I've managed to convert some people in PR and one friend has started rather obsessedly folding every bag that comes past her!

Kats

"So nobody has actually been compelled to start folding their bags yet?"

Try reading post 10 again...

i use them as gloves for clean the drain

That's very cool Mina!

And an interesting usage there flyingtwinkle! I used to use plastic bags for all sorts of things on my hands but in the end the rustle got to me

Maybe I could start a cult...if you see anyone in the street unfolding/folding one you could ask if they hootoo

Kats

When we visit stores like Aldi or Lidl where they charge for every bag, we keep a few in the car boot, and take them in wth us to use again
If more shops did that, the problem would no longer exist!

Any other ones that end up in the house, get used as bin liners, or stuffed into old tights to make a draft excluder, or cover plants in the garden protected from frost.
There are many uses for them, all you have to do is think about it
Smudger,

We have co-ops here in the Southwest USA that charge for a bag-plastic or paper, and sells cloth bags that can be re-used again and again, and washed if something should leak.

But at most stores, you still get the plastic bags, which we just use for garbage bags, and thus recycle them that way- so we don't buy garbage bags and put more plastic in the landfills.

So nobody's going to petition their local politician to introduce a bag tax, then?