Bags, Bags and Plastic Bags

  One of the best things I've found that Wales does that England does not ... is charge for bags.  Yes, that's right if you need a plastic carrier bag from the supermarket or any shop you have to BUY it.   Nothing gets folk changing their habits more quickly than hitting them in the wallet or purse.  I have taken shopping bags with me for all my shopping for years now, but on occasion if I had filled them up and needed an extra bag I would have taken a plastic bag from the rack, now I say no thanks and simply put the excess loose in the trolley and then in the boot of my car until I get home.     When I had my own shop a few years ago and going forward into the Farmers Markets when we lived in Oxfordshire I used to sell these nice little jute bags at just over cost price to encourage my customers to not use plastic bags.  In fact the opening offer for my shop in the first week was 'Spend £10 or Over and Get A Free Shopping Bag'.  It was lovely in the months after the shop opening to see my regular customers around town shopping with their bags.   I keep my shopping bags in the boot of the car at all times otherwise I know I would forget them and I also have a fold up really lightweight one in my little handbag, which gets folded up and put back in there the minute it is emptied.  When I get home from any shopping trip everything is unpacked straight away and the bags taken back to the car ready for next time.     Not that I'm actually doing much shopping at the moment ... but I do like to think I am doing my bit for the environment.    I really hate it when you see a large supermarket trolley piled high with someone's weekly shop and everything has been put into plastic carrier bags.  It doesn't even calm me to know that they had to pay for them, it just makes me think 'more money than sense'. And yes I do know that lots of carrier bags are made from recycled plastic these days but this still uses resources in the collecting, making and re-delivery to the shops, so better but not best!!     What do you use for your shopping are you a person like me with a boot full of collected bags, a 'Bag for Life' type of person, or a person who forgets their bags and through gritted teeth and takes the plastic disposable option whether free or not.    Sue xx