[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Well yes but if it was JUST about to social conscience then there wouldn't need to be a charge at all... People would use less just because it's "the right thing to do". Putting a charge on them is an attempt to "encourage" people to do it to save money when otherwise they wouldn't care. I'm just sayin'... 5p isn't a large enough amount to really make that happen. The people who care will use reusable bags but they would have done it anyway even if the bags were free. The horrible unvironmentalists like me who don't give a stuff about ducks getting tangled in my Co op bags or whatever aren't going to change our nasty habits to save a mere 5p....

...but to some whose income is extremely budgeted to almost the last penny...30/40p is a lot of extra money each week and to pay that week after week for carrier bags...it would make so much more sense to buy their re-usable bags one week at a time even and then they won't have anything extra to pay for a while so it just makes sense to do it and I think people will...you just have far too much spare change TS...

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Ammi

...but to some whose income is extremely budgeted to almost the last penny...30/40p is a lot of extra money each week and to pay that week after week for carrier bags...it would make so much more sense to buy their re-usable bags one week at a time even and then they won't have anything extra to pay for a while so it just makes sense to do it and I think people will...you just have far too much spare change TS...

It's more about the way it scales, though. If you're not spending much then it's going to cost you 5p... If it's costing more than say 30p (six bags) then you must have spent at LEAST £30, which then makes the 30p negligible.

Anyway, it's been in practice up here for ages, and genuinely, I'd day less than 10% of people actually carry bags around with them. Most people just pay the extra. Although I guess 10% is better than nothing (if you care about the ducks and stuff).

I would be interested to know EXACTLY where that money goes, though. As far as I know the supermarkets don't get to keep it, but they ARE allowed to make profits on their "bags for life" (which, by the way, are crap and fall apart after a couple of uses).

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

It's more about the way it scales, though. If you're not spending much then it's going to cost you 5p... If it's costing more than say 30p (six bags) then you must have spent at LEAST £30, which then makes the 30p negligible.

Anyway, it's been in practice up here for ages, and genuinely, I'd day less than 10% of people actually carry bags around with them. Most people just pay the extra. Although I guess 10% is better than nothing (if you care about the ducks and stuff).

I would be interested to know EXACTLY where that money goes, though. As far as I know the supermarkets don't get to keep it, but they ARE allowed to make profits on their "bags for life" (which, by the way, are crap and fall apart after a couple of uses).

..it's not all about the fluffy ducks.....us humans quite like this earth as well and it lasting longer for our children and children's children etc is all a good thing...waddle they do without it....

..yeah, the charges were something I was worried about because them going to the supermarkets themselves would be all kinds of wrong considering all of the non environmentally packaged stuff they sell and how ironic that would be but it's all going to charity...(I think..)..the charities will be different with each one because the one I shop at is all local charities atm and chosen by the shoppers and will change regularly...they've already been doing that at Waitrose for quite some time with the green tokens at the checkouts, I don't know if you've eve r seen that...but you put your token in the charity you want to support and then funds are donated ...

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..it's not all about the fluffy ducks.....us humans quite like this earth as well and it lasting longer for our children and children's children etc is all a good thing...waddle they do without it....

..yeah, the charges were something I was worried about because them going to the supermarkets themselves would be all kinds of wrong considering all of the non environmentally packaged stuff they sell and how ironic that would be but it's all going to charity...(I think..)..the charities will be different with each one because the one I shop at is all local charities atm and chosen by the shoppers and will change regularly...they've already been doing that at Waitrose for quite some time with the green tokens at the checkouts, I don't know if you've eve r seen that...but you put your token in the charity you want to support and then funds are donated ...

That's just it though... People trekking to the supermarket with their reusable bags to save the world, and then leaving with those bags stuffed full of mass farmed, chemical-filled, over-processed, over-packaged food. It's a bit of a joke isn't it?

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

That's just it though... People trekking to the supermarket with their reusable bags to save the world, and then leaving with those bags stuffed full of mass farmed, chemical-filled, over-processed, over-packaged food. It's a bit of a joke isn't it?

..well yes, a bit if the packaging of stuff being bought is disregarded as well and no thought given.....but for many that isn't the case though...

[Ammi]

..think and shop TS, you know..multi task....