[Sar]

Originally Posted by Raja

Tesco in UK were offering (don't know if they still are as I am now in India), a 'Bag for Life' scheme. You buy a very strong plastic bag and reuse it until it has come to it's end of life. Go to customer service counter and they will replace the bag for FREE and you start you using the new one and so on.
This is a good scheme and the retailer controls the recycling process knowing the bags are not going to be binned.

Yes, that's still going on. 40p for the heavy plastic ones & £1 for the jute bags. I must say we carry our own shopping bags & a coolbag for frozen/dairy & meat, have been doing so for a few years now. We bag our own groceries even though there are guys who do it for us here in Doha. We do this because we hate plastic bags, have a method for bagging our stuff and its just our little bit to help. In the Carrefour hypermarkets here, they encourage you to buy one big bag to replace the plastic bags. I think every little bit counts, one bag less makes a difference. That's my two cents for today

[GoldenParadox]

I too voted for option 3.

Unfortunately no one here in Bangalore seems to be very bothered with plastic bags and such.

Even the large chain stores (Big Bazaar, Reliance, et al) give out plastic bags to customers. There are some large Malayalee-run super markets in my area, and they too deal in plastic bags.

I think the average Indian shopper will be appalled at the prospect of having to PAY for their carry bags. "We are giving them business, but they can't even give us one !@#$ plastic bag for free?" If one of the stores come out with an eco-friendly option (which involves the customers bringing, or paying for, reusable non-plastic bags), the others will likely point this out and attempt to gain business at that store's expense.

If we are to see changes, sea changes, in this situation, I believe the law needs to step in. If the government was to mandate this eco-friendly measure, the economics of the situation would cease to be involved, and the playing ground will become level.

Unless by the force of law, I do not see us as a people changing to eco-friendly measures.

[tj123]

I think that plastic bags are not be blamed blindly. Plastic bags which are thin and which cannot be reused are the real culprits. These bags practically have zero value hence not recycled; hence it finds its way into dump yards, water bodies leading to clog drains and polluted landfills.

Thick plastic bags can be used multiple times and is easily recycled at the end of its life cycle.

[girishglg]

This thread is more relevant in present times. With the courts ordering no free plastic bags to our people, at least in the organized retail, it becomes mandatory to bring your own bag, else pay 3-5 bucks.

Now this kind of money may seen very small but for us pampered citizens, it is daylight robbery. Hence forcing people to follow suit.

In younger days, my day or uncle used to carry bags with them every time we went out for shopping but later on the plastic menace started which caught our generation off guard and we got spoilt.

Hope this menace ends with some strict enforcement and self conscience.

[born_free]

In Gurgaon plastics bags are banned for shopping purposes. In malls too you will get all your items either in paper or fabric bag.

In grocery stores you will have to pay for fabric bags
I have started to keep 2 to 3 sets of bags in boot of my car, and started noticing people bringing their own bags in grocery stores.

[paras211]

Originally Posted by tj123

I think that plastic bags are not be blamed blindly. Plastic bags which are thin and which cannot be reused are the real culprits. These bags practically have zero value hence not recycled; hence it finds its way into dump yards, water bodies leading to clog drains and polluted landfills.

Thick plastic bags can be used multiple times and is easily recycled at the end of its life cycle.

Thin plastic bags can be recycled more efficiently than thick ones. The problem lies in the disposal people prefer the window to the dustbin and the government cannot handle the waste. Europe America , south east Asia ,Africa use thin bags. They use them because there isn't a practical substitute, plastic is a crude oil product it is absolutely foolish to use a bag 5 times heavier and thicker than what is required to carry 2 kg potatoes. The impact on the environment,forex,interest is big. It will also need more energy to recycle.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by paras211

Thin plastic bags can be recycled more efficiently than thick ones. The problem lies in the disposal people prefer the window to the dustbin and the government cannot handle the waste. Europe America , south east Asia ,Africa use thin bags. They use them because there isn't a practical substitute, plastic is a crude oil product it is absolutely foolish to use a bag 5 times heavier and thicker than what is required to carry 2 kg potatoes. The impact on the environment,forex,interest is big. It will also need more energy to recycle.

Are you sure? bags thinner than some microns are supposed to be non-recyclable and hence such thin ones are banned. This is in India.
Is it because the thinner they are, they are not easy for the machines?

[paras211]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Are you sure? bags thinner than some microns are supposed to be non-recyclable and hence such thin ones are banned. This is in India.
Is it because the thinner they are, they are not easy for the machines?

In order to recycle plastic bags the bags are first ground into fine flakes/powder in a machine very much like the kitchen mixie and then the flakes are melted and cooled to make plastic that can be used to make bags again.

The thickness of the bag is never in issue as long as the "mixie" is powerful enough to shred it. Thicker plastic means more power needed.
Then the next step is melting it again more energy needed to melt it as the mass has increased. If a 100 thin bags weigh 1kg, 100 thick bags weigh ~5kg.
So ~5 times more energy required.

The practical world, the government does not have a proper waste disposal system.
What happens when you throw the garbage in the bin like a good citizen?
It lands up in the big bin on the road, every morning the municipal guys come and take it away with a lasting fragrance and it goes to the dump yard.
No where in this process is any plastic/glass/paper/metal recycled or collected for recycling. That "dirty" job is done by the rag-pickers who pick up things worth selling in the scrap market.

Here lies the problem. The thin plastic bags are not worth the effort for the rag-pickers as the scrap dealers buy by the kilo. So the thin ones are left behind.
And hence the government decided to ban the thin plastic bags so the thick plastic would be lucerative for the rag-pickers in the process increasing the demand for the dollar- Plastics are a petroleum product, increasing the energy requirement and increasing the costs to the end user.

[girishglg]

One of the ideal ways of working around the problem of forgetting your bag is -

• to keep a few bags specific to the type of shopping like groceries, veggies and dairies so that you keep remembering which one to pick for what
• keep two sets of bags one in your home and the other in the car so that you would not miss it in any case and promptly replace it back in the car after use