It’s a sad fact that a bunch of our waste goes into the seas and causes problems for the wildlife that lives there. One of the biggest culprits is plastic shopping bags.
But what’s the alternative?
I’ve seen all sorts of things offered and promised, but nothing seemed to take off. Pack and Save – our local supermarket, started charging customers for plastic shopping bags as an incentive for them to use reusable bags. That works a bit, but it doesn’t really solve the problem.
Today when we did our shopping they had different bags on offer.
These ones are compostable, which means you can add them to your garden and they’ll break down. Even if they end up in the sea, they will break down and hopefully not strangle any turtles.
But how to they stack up against the plastic bags?
I purposely loaded one bag up with about 7.5kg of drink bottles (juice). The bag stretched a bit, but it didn’t tear all the way to the car and from the car into the house. So I’d say they are every bit as strong as the plastic bags we are used to.
They cost 15 cents each (the plastic ones cost 10 cents each) and I think it is a small price to pay to save some turtles and penguins.
They feel a bit more rubbery than the plastic bags and that may be a good thing, as it looks like they cope quite well with sharp corners to.
We’ll see how well they do as bin liners later on in the week.
So good on you Pack and Save. I think you’ve done a good thing by making these available.
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Hi, I have rad your post, and I support it very much. Every time me and my family goes to beach we clean not only our spot but also all that we find. I was taught to keep environment clean. I am proud that there is people who convince others to keep it clean as well!! You got an up vote even tho its only 7 cents lol=) keep it this way.
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I'm glad more solutions to this problem are coming about. I first learned about sea turtles mistaking plastic bags for food a few years ago. It took me by surprise the first time I traveled to a state with a bag tax but now I know the damage they cause I rarely use them, and if I do I make sure they're reused in some way. Thank you for spreading the word out here about the effects and the alternatives, it is much needed!
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A big reason we don't see these products is because of government regulations and taxes etc... shame
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no worries. I'm glad we now have a viable alternative to plastic. And if more people use these bags other supermarkets will follow suit. Every little bit helps ;-)
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Great solution. Make plastic illegal and hemp legal, replace all the plastic shit for hemp products. Heal the world, beautiful post!
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there are other solutions too. I think these are made from potato starch or something. They seem to work really well.
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This is what I'm talking about! Maybe if the government didn't have such strict regulations we could have alot more good hearted people getting into the market!!!!
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I don't think government regulation was the problem here. It was more about finding a marketable solution and then finding a supermarket that would take a punt on it.
Pack and Save have taken the risk that customers won't want to pay for the bags, in the hope that they will. I hope everyone else who goes there pays for the new bags so we can get rid of the plastic ones for good.
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you dont think that these big plastic and paper companies are willing to let themselves get taken out without a fight do you? I'm just saying now that the government has more power then they should, these people can go lobby government to make strict regulations and get subsidies to limit their competitors and give them an advantage.
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Good to see that they are bringing self-destroying plastic bags into the supermarket. Yoa can start your own compost bin with them, one bag at a time, on the "weeds" at the back, and see who wins.
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I think the orchids will win. Or the triffid in the front yard. That thing is scary.
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Time to really drown the orchids to get them growing flower shoots, plenty of slow release fert will help.
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There's a bag tax in the UK. I've not seen compostable bags here yet. I just try to reuse them or take my own bags when shopping. We need to minimise the plastic in circulation. That's a big topic recently, but we should have done more years ago. It seemed to take the recent Blue Planet series to bring awareness
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Sounds a better option than what's on offer, we are charged for carrier bags too, its horrible seeing what plastic is doing to the oceans
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I think this is a kiwi company. I remember reading about them experimenting with this a while ago. It looks like they have finally gone into production, which is awesome.
If it works well here (and I don't see why it won't) then this could be something they take to the world, and solve a huge global problem.
If I had money to invest, this is the sort of thing i'd happily invest in ;-)
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It will def work and people would buy it, its a brilliant idea.
Hopefully they will make more thing like this.
I hate those plastic things that hold cans together, I cut them up so nothing can get stuck in them.
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