Sue wrote:
"George.com" wrote
snip
I use large supermarket plastic bags for bin liners (I need about 1 a
week) snip

I do that too.

Over here the major supermarkets provide a bin for recycling their old
used plastic bags. Perhaps you could get them to do the same where you
shop. If enough people demanded it they should listen.

The bigger places also do large boxes made of recycled plastic that you
buy and then use each time you shop.

I recall my local Sainsbury's providing paper sacks at one time but that
didn't seem to last long. I think people probably didn't find them
durable enough, e.g if it was raining, and handle-less bags are not much
good for anyone without a car needing to carry shopping home. I've also
read that paper sacks use more resources to make and transport than
plastic ones.


over here in Ireland plastic shopping bags used to be everywhere;
we have bad litter problems and the plastic bags were a very visible
sign of that; you got them all over roadsides and in hedges and fences
etc. We spent years trying to ask people to use re-usable bags or
boxes etc. That had almost no effect but it did allow me to feel very
superior everytime I asked for no bag and used my backsack for small
purchases. Eventually, the solution was very direct and simple. It
became illegal to give plastic bags away for shopping. You could still
get them but you had to ask for them and pay a tiny fee (15cents a bag
or so). It worked overnight. They have disappeared from the
countryside (at least the fresh ones have). Now, whenever you go to
the supermarked, you have to remember to bring 4 or 5 reusable ones
(made of cloth/canvas of some kind and that last about a year) or get
boxes or buy your bags. At first you can never remember to bring teh
bags; now it is second nature. It really worked.

Des in Dublin


--
Sue