Kill marine life - only 5p a go.

longdogs · 6 Oct 2015

It's official. If you wish to kill marine life or birds with a plastic bag, it will now cost you 5p. It used to be free of course but now we have to pay so that the shops can donate the extra profit to good causes.

The thing is, it didn't stop three of those charity collection bags being shoved through my letter box yesterday. Have they not heard about the plastic bag debacle?

WalksWithTurkeys · 6 Oct 2015

It is a complete joke. When you buy something, it is wrapped in plastic. Often inside a thick plastic casing. Plastic water bottles. Who needs to buy water FFS? And so on.

And the plastic in the sea is dumped from ships.

This 5p a bag charge is really to make us feel good without actually addressing the issue.

EFLImpudence · 6 Oct 2015

Half price

Note the description.

alan333 · 6 Oct 2015

130 million less marine life killing devices used in Scotland in the last quarter of 2014 (after implimention of charging 5p) - an astonishing figure I'm sure you'll agree. The figures will be a bit twisted tho, since they don't account for extra sales of rolls of plastic bags people now buy for bin liners or cat litter etc.

Most people up here have gotten used to having some bags in their boot etc now... you don't see too many supermarket bags being dished out. Surely it can't be a bad idea?

Edit...to add source of info
http://www.scotsman.com/news/enviro...-bags-after-5p-charge-1-3839752#axzz3nnIY6t3p

EFLImpudence · 6 Oct 2015

I was offered a 'bag for life' last week when I did not know this new rule was starting.
I said "No thanks, I can't put rubbish in it and throw it away"

If 'my' plastic bags are ending up in the sea then it is the fault of the refuse collectors.

Note that plastic bags are recyclable (and made from recycled plastic) but my council will not accept them in the recycle bin - nor will they accept wood or clothes.

Whitespirit66 · 6 Oct 2015

Don't know why we're worried about a few plastic bags affecting wildlife. Thanks to Mad Frau Merkel, The Med must be heavily polluted with dead Syrians, rubber rings, flip flops and soggy copies of the koran.

handyjack · 6 Oct 2015

Whitespirit66 said:
soggy copies of the koran.

JBR · 6 Oct 2015

I agree. Yet another poorly thought-out ruling by our government.
When we make our weekly visit to the supermarket we take our own bags, so don't accumulate plastic bags any more. However, when we did, we used them for a number of purposes including taking recyclable items to the bins outside. We then put them in the non-recyclable bin because (as someone mentioned) the council won't recycle them!
Now we don't acquire free plastic bags, what do we do? Well, we use plastic bin bags, of course, which are thicker and therefore contain more of this nasty plastic to harm wildlife.

The fact is that the 5p charge for plastic bags is yet another stealth tax (wherever the profits might go). Imposing it will not reduce the number of plastic bags (or other items) that are dumped in the wrong places. Any plastic bags that we use are placed in the non-recyclable bin and what happens after that is the council's responsibility.

Dextraneous · 6 Oct 2015

Anything that helps is good

gregers · 6 Oct 2015

im goner have to use bigger bin bags when i clear up after my dog in the garden now.
mind you the and mines she leaves behind warrants it.

ladylola · 7 Oct 2015

I would say some are moaning like a lot of old women , but those older women are the ones more likely to just use a shopping bag rather than wads of plastic carriers

nickso · 8 Oct 2015

Supposedly the average number of bags per person per year is 140. For 7 quid a year I will just keep using the carrier bag and then subsequently use it for the bathroom bin. The cost of buying small bin bags for that will probably offset most of it anyway.

Add to that the convenience of just picking up a bag at the shop and not using your wife....sorry.... bag for life....or forgetting them all the bloody time.

Biggest problem with it all is the supermarkets up here hide the bags and you need to ask for them which gets tiresome.

Brigadier · 8 Oct 2015

People generally don't respond well to change, as in this case.

JBR · 8 Oct 2015

Brigadier said:
People generally don't respond well to change, as in this case.

I'd re-phrase that.
People generally don't respond well to unnecessary change.

There are many examples of well thought out changes although, admittedly, not often those made by the government!

WalksWithTurkeys · 8 Oct 2015

What we really need is a tax on packaging, and transportation. That way the real cost is accounted for i.e. manufacture, disposal and pollution. But the EU could overrule our taxes, and impose its own which would doubtless be ill thought through. I am sure our government need no help in creating ill thought through laws thank you very much.

Kill marine life - only 5p a go.

longdogs

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