Supermarket Plastic bags

[Adam Funk]

To understand recursion, you must first understand recursion....

[Adam Funk]

Never mind the throad, it's the other hand (especially the thumb) that's holding the packaging that I worry about. And quite often, the products are packed so they meander around inside the plastic pack so that it's difficult to avoid either stabbing yourself or damaging the contents.

Yes. Good for them --- cardboard is easy to open & easy to recycle.

[Adam Funk]

We use carrier bags in the bathroom bin, but we are still getting free ones at a sufficient rate.

AIUI, countries/regions that have imposed carrier bag charges have discovered a decline in litter afterwards as a pleasant side effect.

[Adam Funk]

I don't know how you manage that. When we first got a reasonably well-sealed pedal bin some years ago, I thought it could be used baglessly, but it turned out to be a smelly mess after a while. We have used bags since then. (And yes, I put food waste as such in the worm bin, but icky packaging still has to go in the (bag-lined) kitchen bin.)

[Clive George]

I don't know how people don't manage it :-)

Maybe we don't have that much icky packaging on our food? Obviously dry food packaging such as one gets pasta in isn't an issue. Cheese and meat have some, with meat potentially being the worst, but IME there's really not that much ick there and one can nest packaging (eg put something manky inside a cereal bag). Tins and bottles get washed out and go in the recycling.

It's a fairly big bin, and we don't lean on stuff to make it go in - easier to tip it into the wheelie bin if you don't.

Maybe not having it sealed actually helps? We don't keep a lid on it.

[polygonum]

We use a picnic coolbag for our shopping - and some woven nylon re-usable bags for things that don't fit. It is good to have the reassurance that the food doesn't warm up too much on the way home.

[ss]

Full circle like everything else. When I was a lad I was sent every saturday to get the shopping at the local co-op (early 60s) with shopping list in hand a a couple of leather bags, every shopper had their own as I dont think plastic bags had been invented yet. You went into the coop and placed your bags in a rack next to the checkout and done the shopping. When you got back to the checkout the girl retrieved your bags from the rack and you filled them as the goods were put through. Of course that system wouldnt cope with the customer traffic nowadays, and some sod would nick your bags.

[spuorgelgoog]

That's to pacify the health lobby. By wrapping each cake bar separately they can claim that's the 'serving size' for calories.

as any fule kno the actual serving is the packet of 6.

Owain

[Bob Eager]

We use the really inexpensive woven ones from Iceland. And their insulated ones too.

[Tim Watts]

You never see shopping baskets on wheels - in the 70's everyone used them. No bags needed - pile everything in and of course no lugging bags back home (everyone walked of course).

[Michael Chare]

So why is it in the Queens speech? Gordon Brown wanted to introduce a charge for what he called 'one time use bags' a few years back.

The only one time use bags we have are the ones supplied by the local council.

[Clive George]

Bike trailer gets used for that here :-)

[harryagain]

Is that why you're so grumpy?

[Mike Barnes]

I think the health lobby might find things to object to in Mr Kipling products other than the portion size.

:-)

[The Medway Handyman]

Absolutely. Made of Kevlar I reckon.

Curtain poles are the worst, Seems to take longer to unpack them than it does to put them up.

I carry a pair of 'Tuffcuts' for removing this sort of packaging.

[news]

And being old enough to remember the introduction of plastic bags a lot of people initially refused to use them (preferring their own more sturdy bags) and refusing to "Walk round town as a mobile advert for Woolworths"

[PeterC]

Oral-B toothbrushes are the worst. I can understand why packaging needs to be good on a toothbrush, but surely the same would apply to food etc. When I bought mine, I decided to open it on the way home on the bus. I have an Inox card with knife and scissors - is there such a card with circular saw/chainsaw/angle grinder? Even at home, the good scissors were marginal - and I managed to spike myself on the cut plastic!

[PeterC]

When choosing CAKE I heft it - the more the better. Needs pricing in pence/heft.

[PeterC]

Paper, Wales - mache?

[PeterC]

I use a large rucsack - it holds 20kg comfortably. Sometimes I have to walk the last 2 miles home if there's a problem with the local bus. In the last bad Winter, the bus didn't come in to the village (couldn't get out again), so there was a 1 mile walk across snowy fields - not fun with a shed-load of carrier bags.