Supermarket plastic bag charge has led to 98% drop in use in England, data shows

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Emperor@feddit.uk⁩ to ⁨unitedkingdom@feddit.uk⁩

Environmental campaigners have called on the government to learn from its own successes after official figures showed the use of single-use supermarket plastic bags had fallen 98% since retailers in England began charging for them in 2015.

Annual distribution of plastic carrier bags by seven leading grocery chains plummeted from 7.6bn in 2014 to 133m last year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said on Monday.

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Emperor@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
It’s heartening to see that a small change can make such a big difference. Good luck trying to get the Tories to take that message onboard though.

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- richdotward@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I was surprised myself, 10p a time adds up. Being so cheap it was easy enough to carry 2 large clothe bags in my backpack everywhere. Saved a fortune over the years over paying for plastic bags.
  
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BrightCandle@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
What is missed in this article is bags for life purchases. We saw the same article more or less in 2019 and once you factored that in there wasn’t much of an improvement in plastic use or disposal. Expect the same to appear after this article at some point.

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- raptir@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  A reusable plastic bag only needs to be reused ~40 times before it is better than single use plastic bags. Are people really using them so few times that they can’t hit that?
  
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  - Aesthesiaphilia@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    All the data says that no, people are not reusing them.
    
    Anecdotally, it makes sense. You left your bag in the trunk, or at home, or it turns out you got slightly too many groceries, or you're staying at a friend's house and you pop out to get some groceries and don't have your bag...
    
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  - Pyrozo007@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    40 times is fucking wild, I maybe get 5-10 if I really go hard before I forget to bring it one time and have to buy another one
    
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conciselyverbose@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I honestly don't even usually want a bag.

But it's the default and I'm too lazy to tell them I don't need one every time. Making it not the default is plenty.

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NuPNuA@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Kind of interesting statistic proving people will adapt when forced too, at a time lots of people with dodgy agendas are claiming people won’t go for environmental policies that inconvenience them.

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- gammasfor@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Yeah this is why I find Keir’s pushback on Khan over ULEZ odd. By the next GE the ULEZ expansion would have been in place for nearly a year and the residents would have gotten over it - based on previous evidence.
  
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  - NuPNuA@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I don’t understand anything Keir is up to at the moment. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt right after the disastrous end of the Corbyn era, but he seems to be pushing all the right buttons to put me off in theast year or two.
    
    But yeah, I remember people moaning about the bag coat when it came in, and lo and behold a year later everyone knew what to do and got on with it. ULEZ will be the same, you may have a few white van men and taxi drivers moaning still, but most drivers will realise it doesn’t effect them and move on.
    
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astanix@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
The county north of the one I live in decided to just ban them completely. So the big chain store that used to have free paper or plastic bags switched to charging for the paper bags.

This seems like such a better idea.

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donut4ever@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I wonder how Walmart is going to implement and they switched most of their check out lines to self checkout.

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- Magnus@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Self serving checkouts ask you how many bags you want and charge for them in the UK. I have seen a growth in adults using backpacks, it wasn’t the norm before the bag charge.
  
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  - awwwyissss@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Yeah I use my backpack, much better for carrying heavy groceries
    
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  - Wooly@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Doesn’t everyone else just click no bags? Free bags baby.
    
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- sci@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  The supermarket close to my home has self checkout, you just have to scan the bag in addition to your products.
  
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- goforliftoff@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I was in Maine recently and they charge for bags there. At Walmart, the self checkout staff member was also selling bags to the people who needed them, in addition to monitoring everything else that happens at self checkout.
  
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  - donut4ever@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I see. Thank you. I like the no bags thing. Costco and Aldi have been doing it for years and I never minded it
    
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- NotSteve_@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  In Canada we just fully banned plastic bags. Walmart just doesn’t offer any bags at self checkout anymore besides the reusable ones. It’s kind of annoying if you forget to bring bags but it’s not a huge deal. If I’m walking I’ll just fill my personal grocery cart, or if I’m driving I’ll just throw everything loose in my car. If I do need a bag I’ll just spend $0.25 on a reusable bag.
  
  It’s really not a big deal like a lot of people expected
  
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  - Aesthesiaphilia@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    
    If I do need a bag I’ll just spend $0.25 on a reusable bag.
    
    Which is actually making the central issue - pollution and GHGs - worse than if we just had thin-film single use bags.
    
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  - donut4ever@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I’m fully for it. I’m actually used to it at Costco and Aldi. I don’t know why it took wally this long to do the same and they still have stores that still offer free plastic bags.
    
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- panicnow@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I’m in a conservative small town. My Walmart no longer even sells one use grocery bags! They had signs up for a couple months before hand.
  
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- blackn1ght@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Tesco and Sainsbury’s usually just have the bags at the entrance to the self checkout and you just scan the bag before using it.
  
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- Emperor@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  They have a lot of self-checkouts in the UK - there’s a member of staff on hand to help and they usually dish out bags although in some places you can just grab and scan a bag. If you wanted to not pay for one you could but the staff member and cameras are watching so it isn’t all relying on honesty.
  
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mtchristo@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Does this mean everyone who goes shopping, goes in a car, or do they buy paper bags? and if you are walking there or taking the bus are you not being penalised for not taking the car ?

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- Emperor@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I’m not sure I understand - I often walk to the shops and will stuff a plastic bag or two in my pocket. If I was buying any more than that, I’d be taking the car.
  
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  - mtchristo@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I’d rather have my plastic bags reused for garbage, than have to always remember to carry around plastic bags, I like to shop after work on my way home. reusing them make them very easy to tear sometime and have to deal with a mess in the middle of the road
    
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conciselyverbose@kbin.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I honestly don't even usually want a bag.

But it's the default and I'm too lazy to tell them I don't need one every time. Making it not the default is plenty.

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