U.K. Retailer To Charge For Plastic Bags

Marks & Spencer Will Ask Customers To Pay 10 Cents Per Bag In Effort To Reduce Waste

(CBS/AP)  One of Britain's largest retailers says it will start charging for plastic bags at all of its stores as part of a drive to eliminate waste.

Beginning May 6, food and clothing retailer Marks & Spencer says it will charge 5 pence ($.10 cents) per plastic bag.

Marks & Spencer says it hopes the charge will save 280 million bags per year, and income from bags that are sold will go to an environmental charity called Groundwork.

The reviews thus far have been mixed.

Karen Webb, 39, a legal secretary from Bootle, Merseyside, told the U.K. Telegraph, "We should be doing more to protect the environment and I think the 5p charge will encourage many more people to recycle."

But at Marks & Spencer Simply Food in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, Vera Claire, 69, said, "We feel as though we are being forced into paying for the bags, we have no choice. And 5p a bag will add up over a month."

The company said Thursday that it has tested the idea in Northern Ireland and southwestern England, and says it cut bag use by 70 percent, reports the Telegraph.

Marks and Spencer will give all food customers free long-lasting bags from early April for one month, reports the U.K. Press Association.

The 5p charge will begin on May 6.

[michellem99-2009]

Dear Brits I posted on the BBC site on this issue they put my say in have your your say. Go clothe bags.

[michellem99-2009]

I read this on the BBC site. I use clothe bags. I take them to the stores I shop at. They are used and I tell them I have my own bags. I bought the clothe bags at the food store. The store personnel are happy to use my bags for what I buy. I use my day pack for heavy items and the clothe bags for light items. I have used clothe bags for years. I started using them in Maine. We do reuse and recyle. I did buy my clothe bags. I can reuse them. erasmus6 I try not to forget my bags but if I do, i buy a clothe bag. I keep mine folded in my pack. Can t our UK friends/loved ones have yer nation use the clothe bags as it is earth friendly and reuseable. I can see where they wishe not to use the plastic as they break open and will not break down in the earth. Clothe is the way to go. May be yer govt will allow clothe bags for shopping. They should.

[toolmangler-2009]

That''''s okay, it is what I expect from a scumbag.

Posted by erasmus6 at 02:38 AM : Feb 29, 2008


even ''Scumbags'' are biodegradable.

[rf35]

I am taking it that you mean just putting the garbage into a plastic container, without a bag, in the house, and carrying it out and putting it into a garbage can lined with a plastic bag? Posted by erasmus6

This is how it worked %u201Cback in the day,%u201D when I took out the trash as one of my weekly chores: I would get a 13 gallon bag (same ones used for the kitchen) and dump the house trash into that. Most of the non-kitchen trash is dry, so it''s not too nasty. Then I took it out to the metal cans in the back alley, which didn%u2019t have bags in them.
When I run out of the plastic grocery bags I%u2019ve saved, I%u2019ll do the same. The difference is, now we have one of those big, plastic, dumpster-like things the trash collectors give us. I wish the biodegradable bags were available in my area, but I haven''t seen them. Not enough demand here yet. Heck, most New Mexico residents apparently just throw everything into their front yards from what I can tell.

[octavianfdlr]

What does this story have to do with science or technology?

[erasmus6]

"just walk to the trash can and then jump in..garbage gone..bata bing bata boom(sorry cant help it!)" posted by libsrweak

That''s okay, it is what I expect from a scumbag.

[libsrweak]

I am all for getting rid of plastic bags but what are we supposed to put our garbage in? I mean, in the house, what would you use?


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Posted by erasmus6 at 12:44 PM : Feb 28, 2008
+ report abuse


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just walk to the trash can and then jump in..garbage gone..bata bing bata boom(sorry cant help it!)

[stezzer]

Marks and Spencer are jumping on the green bandwagon for a bit of free publicity.

Their profits are consistently down and their stores are a shadow of their former glory.

Plastic bags are a menace, but Marks and Spencer must be getting desperate if they think this little scheme will improve their tarnished reputation.

[cmp271]

Nothing new for England. If you want a decent bag you have always had to pay for it.

[cyberus-2009]

We tried to go to canvas shopping bags to eliminate the need for shopping bags completely.
The results were that stores ranged from a hassle to bring the bags in to use to outright forbidding us to bring them in to use.

[erasmus6]

"They actually do have plastic bags that you can buy for your garbage pail that are biodegradeable, but I''''ve never seen them in stores." posted by shoppingnut

Yes, I think we have them here in Canada but I think they are big and don''t know if they are plastic. They break down but if you are putting wet gargage in them I don''t know how well they will hold up. Right now people are using them for the garden debris.

"I guess I''''ll go back to the pre-plastic grocery bag way of emptying the trash into a single big bag every week." posted by rf35

I am taking it that you mean just putting the garbage into a plastic container, without a bag, in the house, and carrying it out and putting it into a garbage can lined with a plastic bag? It is kind of yicky but that is about the only way of cutting down on the bags, I guess. And if we could use the biodegradeable ones in the big garbage cans that would be better.

I have bought the cloth bags for groceries, but I too keep forgetting to take them with me!

[shoppingnut-2009]

They actually do have plastic bags that you can buy for your garbage pail that are biodegradeable, but I''ve never seen them in stores. Maybe if they started selling them in the grocery store I''d buy them rather than hefty''s. I have purchase about 4 of the grocery store bags, two of which the money went to some foundation and they were only .99 cents. I do remember to bring them in about every two or three times I shop. I''m trying to remember to bring them in more, but I guess it''s just going to be about getting in a routine before I remember to do it every time, but at least I do sometimes and every little helps.

[rf35]

If US retailers would give reuseable bags away for free (for a limited time, at least) there would be more people willing to use them. I have only bought three so far. As for what to line the garbage cans with, I guess I''ll go back to the pre-plastic grocery bag way of emptying the trash into a single big bag every week.

[erasmus6]

I am all for getting rid of plastic bags but what are we supposed to put our garbage in? I mean, in the house, what would you use?