Ikea to charge for plastic bags
Posted by duncan, 492 days ago
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5045922.stm 
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Reading article "Ikea to charge for plastic bags" - Reply to this / 22 comment(s)
This is one of those 'everyone said it was going to happen, and now it is' stories.
For as long as I can remember, we've been encourage to reuse plastic bags for shopping. Some of the big supermarkets, like M&S, then started to sell re-usable, durable bags to encourage this kind of low-level recycling and make a bit of money on the side (which is probably the best way for big business to approach recyling).
Now, Ikea are going to charge for plastic bags. It seems like that are a lot of green initiatives like this popping up over the UK now. We've all known that plastic carrier bags are pretty nasty things, now it's nice to see companies giving shoppers an inventive to recycle.
Having said all that, though, I do miss those big, square, brown paper Ikea bags. They made the best cat toys, after all.
This is one of those 'everyone said it was going to happen, and now it is' stories.
For as long as I can remember, we've been encourage to reuse plastic bags for shopping. Some of the big supermarkets, like M&S, then started to sell re-usable, durable bags to encourage this kind of low-level recycling and make a bit of money on the side (which is probably the best way for big business to approach recyling).
Now, Ikea are going to charge for plastic bags. It seems like that are a lot of green initiatives like this popping up over the UK now. We've all known that plastic carrier bags are pretty nasty things, now it's nice to see companies giving shoppers an inventive to recycle.
Having said all that, though, I do miss those big, square, brown paper Ikea bags. They made the best cat toys, after all.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5045922.stm
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In countries like the netherlands, supermarkets and shops like IKEA have been charging for plastic bags for over ten years now. I don't understand why it's taken so long for the UK to get into it.
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but then you're quite right in asking what happened to the paperbags?
They were so much better, more useful and easy to recycle. Most things in Ikea are too big for a bag anyway!
It's so much easier to just take your own.. when will people really realise this? Personally I always carry a rucksack - it's amazing how much fits in (much more useful than a little handbag!)
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This is an excellent idea, I think. They do it in Ireland (for example) at most of the supermarkets, and it is one of those things that seems inconvenient to start with but rapidly starts to seem normal once people are used to it.
And then Hey Presto, reduced plastic bag usage....
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Does anyone else remember when this was common place? I'm sure that about 15 years ago we were always charged for plastic bags (ok, it may have been longer, but I'm sure that before these cheap flimsy, use once bags were common place, we had to pay for them)
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That would never go over here in the US. People would be outraged I'm sure. I always bring my own cloth bags to the grocers. Those plastic bags are the biggest pollution eyesores (next to plastic water bottles that is).
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I know that Habitat have been making these pretty cool-looking shopping bags from cloth to encourage people to use them for shopping instead of plastic bags.
They do look nice - hopefully more people will be encouraged to use them when they go shopping instead of the plastic bags in supermarkets.
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Yup1 The Habitat bags are great. I wish more places would promote this kind of re-usable bag.
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I guess this habitat bags will be the best solution for these 'shopping bags' problem though it takes discipline for the citizens to bring them everytime they go shopping. Plastic bags are charged by IKEA? I don't also agree on this as long as plastic bags are reused, guess that would be fine because the paper bags also come from trees so between the two, I would prefer the plastic bags as long as they are really recycled.
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I stay in Lithuania for about 6 months every year. You pay for you plastic shopping bags there and because Lithuanians are on a lower wage they will look after the bags and use them as many times as possible. I think it’s good to be charged for plastic bags and better still if they could invest some money and come up with an alternative biodegradable bag.
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I've just come back from Ireland where plastic bags are taxed leading to a reduction in usage and a cleaner enviroment-I think I spotted one in a hedge compared to the plastic confetti I see stuck in hedges and rivers in South Wales! By the way, does anyone know where I can get a string bag from? I've scoured all the 'nana' shops to no avail!
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Found some...
try here (for a general site)
http://www.shopeezee.co.uk/all_handbag_products...
or...
for a more "green thinking" one, what about WWF...
http://shop.wwf.org.uk/store/Detail.aspx?pid=12...
(I think I prefer the idea of this one!)
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Nice one Jane! Will definitely go for the WWF one as the cheapest and most reminiscent of the type of bag my Gran would carry in her capacious handbag. BTW, I know the WI are campaigning for less packaging in supermarkets, but why are n't staff encouraged to ask if you need a bag (like the Body Shop do) rather than automatically reaching for a plastic carrier, even if you've purchased something as minute as a thimble!
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I'd love it if people didn't automatically give you bags for everything. My local health food shop have stopped asking me, which is great - they've realised that I never want them, but the supermarkets .... well, they are better than they used to be, but I do find it hard persuading assistants that I don't want them to put each yogurt in a separate bag in case they break, and no, I don't want a bag for the carrots / apples or whatever I've purposely chosen OUT of a bag.... I just don't want them. I always carry a rucksack, normally with a spare bag in it, and often have the pushchair so I don't need another carrier bag to go in the drawer at home.
If you read the discussion on Ikea charging for plastic bags, you'll see that a lot of us think this is a positive move as it will make people think twice about taking bags.
http://ecolocal.co.uk/uk/home_life/show/ikea_to...
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Forgot to say that here in the US although they don't charge, which i think they should!), you can bring your bags back to be recycled--but i really doebt anyone does that very often.
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I have a bunch of string bags! Mine are from http://www.stringbags.co.uk/ They're excelent. Until one string breaks.
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I use large canvas bags. I have a couple of string bags, but stuff always gets tangled in them. Maybe I'm uncoordinated!
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I've just found that the "string bag lady" is not trading at the moment, so if anyone has any alternatives, I'm sure our readers would be happy to see them.
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yes please - I'd be very interested to know about alternatives.................
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There's an interesting article over on www.grownupgreen.org.uk
http://www.grownupgreen.org.uk/features/?id=972
Apparently M&S don't seem to have any intentions (not publically anyway) to reduce carrier bag usage, but both Tescos and Sainsburys want to reduce it by 25% and plan to have all bags biodegradable by September. Good for them, but how they intend to do this seems a bit vague (at least Sainsburys are offering a wider variety of reusable bags.... Asda have got rid of the "bag for life", which is crazy!)
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Well I've just had a response back from Asda re their bag for life...
apparently they are bringing a new one out shortly.... It was about 3 months ago I last tried to get one and couldn't.
In general they are aiming to reduce packaging but there is no commitment as to how much. I'm disappointed when Walmart seem to be doing so much better.
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I've always preferred Sainsburys :) Thanks for the article. Shame on Asda and Marks 'n Sparks.
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I've just read through their FAQs re the plastic bags, and apparently any money raised from the sale of the bags is being given to local community forests, which is great news.
It would be interesting to see any figures they have re their reduction in bags and monies raised. if anyone has any figures, please post them here
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