But they are more than happy to sell you a carrier bag - and I bet their prices are not as low as ALDI!

Is this story really about the Coop being Green, or is it more about them thinking their customers are just "green" behind the ears?

Completely agree with Say it as it is OK. Just another large business jumping on the 'green' bandwagon when they can scent a profit boost.

You can have Aldi, though.... What a pile of pants that is....

I think you two are being needlessly negative.

People do get niggly at paying out for a bag, and this is already having an effect - more and more re-usable bags are being carried around and used, and it isn't "naff" to be seen with one.

On the other hand, you two writers seem to be male, and probably you would neither be seen with shopping bags nor even remember to pick them up before going out! Not sexist, this, just the conclusion of my many years of observation of human behaviour.

Come on, you two! You both love picking everything and everybody to pieces, and that is sometimes a useful function, but let's not be negative about the action taken by stores in response to requests for those who care about our planet.

Do you want to be buried alive in plastic? Maybe you are elderly and don't care what happens after you've departed?

Logistically it probably costs the stores as much to "market" the sold carrier bags as it did to hand them out free. It takes time to add another purchase to the bill, and have you noticed that there are very few items indeed that are now viable to be sold in supermarkets at a few pence?

Also please note that at least two of our largest supermarkets are actually giving loyalty points (and in one case have been doing so for a long time) to customers who use their own bags. This does equate to giving us money for bothering to pick up a re-usable bag before leaving home.

Credit where it's due, please?

At least the super markets have taken action over the menance of plastic bags. It would have been relatively easy for our somewhat lazy Government to ban these outright. Well done Coop and others who have listened to the arguments and taken positive action.


PS Unbelievably my security word is land-fill!!! LOL

Juno wrote:
I think you two are being needlessly negative.

People do get niggly at paying out for a bag, and this is already having an effect - more and more re-usable bags are being carried around and used, and it isn't I think to say that by being male, a person doesn't shop or have the mental capacity to remember a carrier bag is a sexist comment.

Why shoud credit be given to multi millon pound businesses for giving a 1p reward for shoppers using their own bags to pack up their shopping that is 99% of the time wrapped in plastic.

If they dont put my £100+ shoping in a few bags it will stay at the till. What a con!

Nice modern attitude Tom

Where do you shop? I could do with some freebies!

I am very happy to buy a bag everywhere I shop BUT I want a plain bag with no advertising of any sort on it. I refuse to pay £2 or more to buy a bag with Tesco or M&S plastered all over it. They can pay for their own advertising. The place to get a plain strong bag is Robert Dyas in the High Street. The quality is excellent.

Quote by Juno: "Also please note that at least two of our largest supermarkets are actually giving loyalty points (and in one case have been doing so for a long time) to customers who use their own bags. This does equate to giving us money for bothering to pick up a re-usable bag before leaving home.
Credit where it's due, please?"

Giving money back or offering reward points for using your own bags can only be seen as being good for the customer and for the envirionment.

But, please forgive me if i'm wrong? I don't think the Co-op are doing this, are they?

They are just going to charge customers for the carrier bags and they can hardly be called a discount supermarket!

Go to France or Spain and you have to pay for carrier bags.

I can't see what the problem is, the bags are strong and reusable so it makes sense to stop giving out the flimsy ones.

Co-op members are shareholders so we should be happy to see the end of the free plastic bags. It's just a matter of remembering to take some bags with you.
Citizen 139 mentions paying for plastic bags in France and Spain. The same applies in Italy. And in Germany they don't have them at all. And in Ireland they have to charge for them, as there is a government tax on them.
We might as well get used to it - plastic bags are becoming an endangered species, and a good thing too.

The heading is wrong - they are not AXING them, they are SELLING them. If they want to be really greenthey should do away with them altogether and make people take their own.
But then they'd probably lose business ..... so they won't will they.

Cliff, read the report carefully and you will see that what they are axing is not bags but free bags. I agree the Gazette's language is a bit obscure but we all knew that anyway.
It is obvious that until we reach German levels of self-sufficiency the supermarkets will have to provide paid-for bags, or we shall not be able to take our purchases away. Even Aldi, a German-owned chain, sells you bags if you need them.

I dont see the problem here, if you dont want to be charged for a bag then take your own along... simple!! Just think how many people do a big weekley shop using probably 10 bags for their shopping, what do they do with these bags when they get home? bin them or bundle them into a cupbard with all the others... I think its just another good excuse for everyone here to moan about something that should really be priased!! Marks and Spencer charge for bags, when they brought this in they handed out free bags for life over a week period meaning that really no one had to pay for a bag in the long run and since they started the majority of people take their own bags along themselves (including me)