5 ms·
The bigger cause for the more recent (accelerated) drop is IMO not the 5p fee, but the fact that many shops simply stopped offering the thin "single-use" plasti
by tomp 7y ago
The bigger cause for the more recent (accelerated) drop is IMO not the 5p fee, but the fact that many shops simply stopped offering the thin "single-use" plastic bags altogether!
Still my praise goes to Whole Foods, the only shop (that I know) that offers paper bags.
- reallydontask 7y agoI agree, but even then we're talking about a 50% drop in usage from last year, which is impressive and surprising that so many bags are being used despite the charge.
- nicktelford 7y agoMy local Morrisons have started offering paper bags that are strong enough to be reusable. Best of both worlds!
- bencollier49 7y agoEvery time I used those I get paper cuts. Good on them for moving to them; I'm sure they'll improve the tech rapidly.
- physicsguy 7y agoBoots have started doing paper bags now - I got one last week when I went there.
- hannob 7y ago> Still my praise goes to Whole Foods, the only shop (that I know) that offers paper bags. It is far from clear that paper bags are any better in their overall impact.
- bencollier49 7y agoIn their impact on plastic waste?
- onion2k 7y agoOne thing that is very obvious is that they biodegrade. Even if they're equally bad for the environment in the short term they're not a problem that will take 1000 years to go away.
- kochthesecond 7y agoPaper bags are roughly 250 times worse than a plastic bag. Even worse if you color it.
- onion2k 7y agoI'd ask you to cite something that demonstrates evidence for that claim but you'll just post a link to a website funded by the plastics industry. For example - "Paper bags have a much higher global warming potential (GWP)." (http://www.allaboutbags.ca/papervplastic.html http://www.allaboutbags.ca/papervplastic.html) but when you scroll to the bottom of the page you see "Content compiled by the Canadian Plastics Industry Association.". Paper bags are not 250 times worse.
- kochthesecond 7y agoI was wrong, it was 43 times. https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-73-4.pdf#page92 https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-... page 93
- Grue3 7y ago
- kochthesecond 7y agoPaper bags are incredibly inefficient, and requires large swaths of forest. Plastic bags are incredibly resource efficient, but you must keep it from ever getting into nature.
- davesmith1983 7y agoAlmost all the plastic bags sold from major supermarket chains in the UK were bio-degradable. After a few years they literally turned into dust. I actually had one of these single use bags long enough in a closet for it to degrade to the point where it was basically dried paper mulch.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- pflanze 7y agoYou need to check very carefully before you can conclude they were bio-degradable. I have only seen degradable plastic carry bags in the UK which were not in fact bio-degradable. Traditional plastic bags manufactured to be falling into pieces don't mean that their pieces are good for the environment (rather the inverse). Real bio-degradable bags do exist but they are weaker and feel rubbery, and they are probably more expensive to make and people likely don't appreciate them, so you generally don't see them (the bags distributed by some London councils for collecting compost are of the real kind). See this older comment of mine: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10763281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10763281
- abainbridge 7y agoI agree but large swaths of forest are a good thing. In most cases trees are a crop. If we want more of them, then the farmer needs to be able to sell them to someone. By increasing the usage of tree products, we increase the number of trees in existence at any point in time (because the farmer converts some land from a different crop to trees to meet market demand). Also, efficiency isn't everything. If you make something more efficient, then often the saving is passed on to the customer. The customer then spends the money they saved on something else that will have some environmental impact. Or worse, the classic example is plane flight. The industry got a lot more efficient. As a result people can afford to fly a lot more. The environmental impact went up hugely. (Thinking about this now, the efficiency of plastic bags is what made people use so many of them).
- benj111 7y agoAre paper bags not more widespread in the US??? In the 90s at least, on TV and film, if anyone brought home groceries, it was in paper handle-less bags.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]