TOPIC: 5p Bags

I see this has now been introduced in England. Went to Tesco early and has to pay for a back.... Walked out the shop and got a camera shoved in my face and asked a few questions... Even made an appearance on Border Crack and Deek About !!

Anyway.... Whats peoples opinions on this.

A good thing long term really for the environment, works well in Germany. You also get 25 cents for most plastic bottles you return and 50 cents for glass ones, you see people walking round collecting them for extra money every day, sometimes you are stood drinking and one of them is stood there yards away waiting for you to throw it in the bin so they can nab it!

Only apples to large shops employing 250,000 people plus

Doesn`t apply to shops who give you a paper carrier bag - However when I queried this in Primark in Scotland, Aberdeen last year I think, they said they charged anyway and gave it to good causes.

Think I said why are you charging for paper carriers when they rot down easily, (and can`t be used to line your pedal bin).

seesaw50 wrote:
It's 250+ people, not 250,000.

cufcdeano wrote: oops got a bit nought happy there - yeah250!!

Seesaw, never mind asking Primark their policy on various degradable bags, are you mad going in one full stop?!

err yeah don`t like the place have to say.......

Hope we never get one either

I was digging a hole in garden tother day to put a plant in when I dug up a crisp packet...it was hedgehog flavour crsps how bloody long since they made them??? Just shows how long it takes to disintegrate

Zebby wrote:
when they ran out of hedgehogs

Zebby wrote:
But crisp packets are normally made of polypropylene which if not exposed to sunlight will last for 1000 years. Normal supermarket high density polythene bags actually decompose fairly quickly in the outdoors.

seesaw50 wrote:
I used to be one of them bloke's who stood outside Primark shops up and down the country, these days I head directly for the pub whenever Moorlass spots one.

She once went to one in Ireland and it was raining very heavily, by the time she got to the boozer her paper bags had disintegrated. So maybe there's something to be said for plastic bags.

The shop is called Penny's in Ireland.

Moorlad wrote:
Given the quality of the fare on offer at Primark the bag probably lasted longer than the clothes! Why there is such a clamor for one in Carlisle is beyond me, as my Mother used to say 'Quality over quantity son'.

Depends what we're talking about.

Funniest thing is that they are only being set at 5p because 4p goes to charities and the Chancellor is still claiming the 1p VAT on them.

It's reduced their use by something like 80% in Scotland so it seems to work.

As an exiled Cumbrian living in Edinburgh I think the 5p TAX is a complete waste of time. Most people saved there bags before anyway.

It's only a few idiots that dump their bags and don't care. Another case of pandering to the minority of whinging tree huggers.

I hope McDonalds are not charging for their paper bags in England like they do in Scotland.

Rant over.

Just take a basket home with you, nothing up about a cost for them?

CCU wrote:
Have/would you seriously ever done/do that with a basket or trolley in Carlisle?

I think if you are driving to the supermarket in your Chelsea tractor, it's not a big effort to keep a couple of bags in your boot.
Bit of a pain carrying around bags if you are shopping on foot (on the way home from work etc).
The supermarkets should knock money off your bill if you walk, don't smoke, help old people across roads, or support your local football team (reduces carbon footprint).
Primark seems a biit rubbish to me, alright for kids stuff, but the cheap, poor quality clothes are a false economy in my opinion.

What happens with home deliveries? Will the supermarket just fill loads of bags and charge you extra?

Has worked fine in Scotland for years, always get asked when go Gretna Gateway.
I live 2minutes walk from Asda yet get carrier bags every time I go even though I've a cupboard full of them at home. Will encourage me to buy a bag for life, though will probably forget to take it and end up buying one everytime I go.

I got a bag for life.

She likes Primark.

Moorlad wrote:
For a while some supermarkets have had an option where you can choose not to have bags with your home delivery.

Saw an interesting comment the other day about this. Bloke said if he was paying 5p for a bag he would expect a plain one, not one which advertised the shop. Said he'd charge 5p for the advertising.

Evidently there is a huge area in the Pacific Ocean that is a floating mass of garbage, including millions and millions of plastic bags.

1954Blue wrote:

I would charge 50p for the first 6 months, folk would soon get in the habit then.

I work in retail. Abput a ninute before my shift ended I asked a customer if they'd like a bag, they said "I am not being funny. But I refuse to pay 5p for a bag." Expecting me to just dish one out for free. just said "Ok." And scanned all her stuff through. She paid, and said "How on earth do you expect me to carry all this out now?" I just shrugged and left her there. People often moan about cack customer service, but don't understand that its possible to be a cack customer too.

cufcmike wrote:
CCU would just take a basket in this instance!

Wazza wrote:
People do it, and bring the baskets back, which is fine. I think CCU would keep the basket though! I work in a pricier store though. The amount people are spending on food, you'd think they'd be able to afford 5p.

Just imagine if everyone did it though, I wouldn't go back to a store that had no baskets when I walked in all the time!

You don't have to pay for bags if you are putting raw meat or loose veg (anything with possibility of soil on them) into them, as soon as you put something else in with said items they become chargeable!

Ahem...

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2205993...5p-plastic-bags.html

Ha, some potters about!

Just been onto Dragons Den with my 'Basket for Life' idea...

Does the money go to the retail outlet, supermarket etc? or is it paid to a worthwhile cause?

I've no issue paying 5p but reckon it'd encourage more or rather make people less reluctant if that 5p was going to charity. A bit like ordering from Domino's say the order is £21.05 they ask if you'd like to donate 95p and round your bill up to £22.00. Think that works well.

Bluesmad wrote:
4p goes to charity. There's about 8 that the total gets split between. 1p is VAT

Be some sod who doesn't agree with the chosen charities on Ethnicity/Religion/General Moron reasons...

And ends up on a crusade across TV/Radio with it.

If I was a shop I'd be extracting the VAT on bag sales overall at the end of a day, or week perhaps because VAT is 20% not 25%. By charging VAT at 1p from every 5p gross that is robbing those charities of thousands every year when you consider that we use over 8 billion bags a year.

Moorlad wrote:
Yup, I'd much rather have several scruffy £10 notes compared to one crisp £10 note.

Moorlad wrote:
Shit, I just worked it out. We use 8.5 billion bags per year, the plan is to cut that by 70%, that means we'd be using 2.55 billion, if the government collects a penny in VAT for each of those bags that is £25,500,000. If the VAT was applied at 20% (instead of 25%) the VAT collected would be £21,250,000. This means that by charging VAT at 1p instead of 0.83333p the government is taking an extra £4,250,000 (and obviously the same amount less is going to charity).

Moorlad wrote:
My email from ASDA the other day said:

In a bid to improve our environment and reduce waste, we wanted to let you know that from 5th October 2015 the UK government will introduce new legislation in England meaning that large retailers, like us, must charge customers a minimum of 5p for every single-use plastic carrier bag.

In light of this, we wanted to highlight our bag-less option for online orders which allows you to receive or collect your shopping conveniently in crates instead of plastic bags. Please note that for food safety reasons we will still need to pack specific items into bags, such as fresh meat and fish. For these items, the bags will be free of charge. For home delivery, the driver will help you unpack your order at the doorstep, or allow you to take the crate into your home and wait while you unload your shopping. They will then take the crates back when you have finished.

From the 5th October, if you would rather have your online shopping supplied in plastic bags you will need to request them during the checkout process, and a compulsory charge of 40p will be added to your order total to cover the charge of the bags used for your groceries. It is important for us to let you know that we will be donating all proceeds from the 40p charge, less VAT, to charities and good causes across England.

If you are using our Click & Collect service at one of our lockers, Transport for London sites, or our automated collection points at Haydock, we are unable to fulfil your order without carrier bags. This means that for orders collected at these locations, the 40p charge will apply.

700000 Sq kilometres of rubbish in the Pacific alone. Excellent idea to charge. Managed to breed worms now that eat plastic as well

Markovitch wrote:
What do they cack?

Moorlad wrote:
That plastic string used to make the bags oranges come in.

This is clearly working. On an average day at work I roughly use half a box of bags which is between 250 and 500 depending on the size of the bags. Today (my first day after the 5p tax) I sold about 30/40 bags. The less bags that are floating around the country side ruining the lakes hanging off trees etc the better

Charity shops will take a hit as nobody will be gifting them any more.

It might have reduced their use in parts of Scotland...........until the advent of three-weekly general refuse collections. Now we are discarding the "for life" bags and buying the 5p cheapos simply in order to bag up surplus refuse which we deposit in roadside bins.

I used to use the plastic bags to put household rubbish in, rather than buying bin liners... now I will be using a bag for life... thus reducing the amount of plastic.... but then I will be buying bin liners... thus increasing the amount of plastic again.

Northumbrian wrote:
Northumbrian, do you not get charity collection bags pushed through your letterbox where you live? I get at least one a week so no need for me to buy bin liners.

Just been down ASDA. Looks like theyve avoided this 5p bag scandal by charging 6p.

Easier to work the VAT out mate. To work VAT from a gross amount you divide by 6.