Michael Gove wants to take us back in time with rubbish disposal

[Bletchleyite]

Why do dog owners pick up dog muck and then hang the bags on tree branches? It's like they think we've put it in a bag, now the servant can come and collect the bags.

Goodness knows, but much as we don't want dog turds all over the floor it would genuinely be better there (and degrading/washing away) than hanging off a tree branch in a plastic bag that will remain intact for thousands of years unless someone removes it.

 

[Groningen]

I only saw this thread now and think it is a good proposal. The is a deposit in Germany and you can not imagine how many people walk through the train and station to look in the garbagebags. From early in the morning to late in the evening! They also wanted it also to do it in the Netherlands, but the industry and some political groups are against. Costs; so that we have on certain days a cleanup day in the country.

 

[Clip]

Plastic bag usage in supermarkets down 90% since 2015

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-supermarkets-figures-reduction-a9029996.html

Plastic bag usage in supermarkets down 90 per cent since introduction of 5p charge in 2015
Average shopper in England now uses 10 bags a year, compared to 140 before the levy

Disposable plastic bag use in England’s main supermarkets has fallen by more than 90 per cent since the introduction of a 5p charge in 2015, according to new figures.

The average English shopper now uses just 10 bags a year, compared to 140 before the charge came in.


Government data suggests that more than 25 billion fewer single-use bags have been issued by the seven biggest food retailers in the three and a half years of the charge than if use had continued at previous rates of 7.6 billion a year.

throwaway culture.

Figures released by Ms Villiers’ Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs showed that the big seven supermarkets – Asda, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, The Co-operative Group, Tesco and Waitrose – sold 550 million single-use plastic bags in 2018-19, almost half the 1.04 billion handed out the previous year.


Across England, the total was down from 1.75 billion in 2017-18 to 1.11 billion in 2018-19.

Retailers donated more than £22m to good causes from the proceeds of bag sales last year, bringing the total since the charge was introduced to £169m

Ms Villiers said: “Our comprehensive action to slash plastic waste and leave our environment in a better state continues to deliver results, with our 5p charge reducing plastic bag sales by 90 per cent in the big supermarkets.

“No one wants to see the devastating impact plastic waste is having on our precious wildlife. Today’s figures are a powerful demonstration that we are collectively calling time on being a throwaway society.”

Government scientists believe plastic in the sea is set to treble in a decade unless marine litter is tackled. One million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals die every year from eating and getting tangled in plastic waste.

Excellent news!

 

[AM9]

Plastic bag usage in supermarkets down 90% since 2015

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-supermarkets-figures-reduction-a9029996.html



Excellent news!

I distinctly remember the thread in RUK and a member posting that there were unhappy about the 5p charge and now had to bring a bag to use when they went shopping! That just goes to show that some members of the public do eventually get the message but put it down to them being unreasonably inconvenienced.

 

[Clip]

I distinctly remember the thread in RUK and a member posting that there were unhappy about the 5p charge and now had to bring a bag to use when they went shopping! That just goes to show that some members of the public do eventually get the message but put it down to them being unreasonably inconvenienced.

Indeed I do too - think i know who it was too but i couldnt find the thread so thought this would do in place. Its great news

 

[tony_mac]

Plastic bag usage in supermarkets down 90% since 2015

That's not actually what it says.
'Single use' plastic bag usage is down, because they no longer sell them.
Instead they sell 'multi use' plastic bags (bags for life). Without knowing how many of these are being sold, there is no way to make a comparison.
But some reports suggests that it's not actually a great picture:-
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1...tic-bags-for-life-increase-waste-1-18-billion
Where Iceland admitted that their plastic usage had actually increased, because these bags use more plastic.

 

[tds42]

I seem to recall the 5p was to go to charity? So is this a ruse that by not selling the 5p bags but o ly bags for life they pocket all of the charge?


As an aside Asda force a 40p carrier bag charge when using click and collect lockers and often use them excessively (bag with only one or sometimes no item in!)

 

[dcsprior]

That's not actually what it says.
'Single use' plastic bag usage is down, because they no longer sell them.
Instead they sell 'multi use' plastic bags (bags for life). Without knowing how many of these are being sold, there is no way to make a comparison.
But some reports suggests that it's not actually a great picture:-
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1...tic-bags-for-life-increase-waste-1-18-billion
Where Iceland admitted that their plastic usage had actually increased, because these bags use more plastic.

Also it's talking about the number of bags, not the amount of plastic. A bag for life probably weighs not far off ten times what a flimsy single-use one does, so a 90% reduction in the count of bags issued could mean no reduction in plastic.

 

[tony_mac]

There was a big reduction in plastic when the charge was first introduced.
in 2006 about 12 billion carrier bags
In 2014 about 8.5 billion + 500 million bags for life (before the charge)

In 2016, 2.2 billion + ~600 million bfl (between 500 and 700)
By 2018, when the supermarkets were removing single use bags, this was
1.2 billion + 1.2 billion
The figures I have seen are 10g for a single use bag, and 27g for a reusable bag.

i.e., the actual plastic used has increased since 2016 by something like 15%.
The amounts donated to charity have gone down considerably. (£22m last year, according to the article - down from £65m in 2016 - government source)

(Figures are from a variety of sources, so take with at least a pinch of salt!)

 

[175mph]

Ideally, producers and consumers should switch to multi-use glass and plastic as is the norm in Germany.

Reduce (not possible in this case if you want to purchase liquid from a shop), so re-use. You don't get to recycle. Recycle is last; you only recycle if you can't reduce or re-use.



Hence why I think we should move to reusable bottles.

Do France or Italy or Netherlands etc not do the same or similar?

 

[W-on-Sea]

It does seem ridiculous that bottle deposits have been phased out in the relatively recent past in the UK (particularly recently in Scotland - at least as far as A.G. Barr go), when they are an obvious and easy way to counteract waste. I welcome their return.

 

[HOOVER29]

Our next door neighbours don’t use plastic bags when they visit the local supermarket. They just load the car boot out of the trolley & then unload the car bit by bit when they get home.

It’s ok I suppose if you have a driveway so you can back the car right up to the front door.

Which our neighbours haven’t.

They park at the end of the parked cars & then walk at least 50 yrds to their front door.
Some people eh.
Still I suppose they are doing their bit

 

[scotrail158713]

Our next door neighbours don’t use plastic bags when they visit the local supermarket. They just load the car boot out of the trolley & then unload the car bit by bit when they get home.

It’s ok I suppose if you have a driveway so you can back the car right up to the front door.

Which our neighbours haven’t.

They park at the end of the parked cars & then walk at least 50 yrds to their front door.
Some people eh.
Still I suppose they are doing their bit

Yeah it wouldn’t be my choice but whatever works for them

 

[Cowley]

Yeah it wouldn’t be my choice but whatever works for them

I must admit that I do that too because I quite often forget to take bags, and because I can send the teenagers out to the van with the bags to put the shopping in and bring it all in.

 

[Geezertronic]

That would work well with the Aldi/Lidl mentality of clearing the till ASAP so all shopping gets chucked back into the trolley then you can either load bags at the counter past the tills or into bags in the boot of the car. I am also one that forgets to take the bags from the boot into the shop

 

[Cowley]

That would work well with the Aldi/Lidl mentality of clearing the till ASAP so all shopping gets chucked back into the trolley then you can either load bags at the counter past the tills or into bags in the boot of the car. I am also one that forgets to take the bags from the boot into the shop

Yes I definitely do it at Aldi/Lidl because I find it much more relaxing than trying to keep up with the speed they throw the items at you.
Each to there own, but I always felt tense trying to do everything at once and this worked for me so I do it more and more now.

 

[Tetchytyke]

a 90% reduction in the count of bags issued could mean no reduction in plastic.

It's almost certain, to be honest. I doubt I was alone in using plastic bags as rubbish bags afterwards, so now I use bin bags instead. Thicker plastic, more difficult to break down, great for the environment eh?

I've always thought the obsession with plastic bags to be misguided. Most plastic in the ocean is industrial in origin- commercial fishing equipment being the big issue. Still, blaming people at the supermarket is a convenient way to deflect attention from the real culprits, eh?

See also the widespread use of antibiotics in industrial farming; people wanting antibiotics for a sinus infection are to blame instead.