Society/Culture Coles caves

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It's debatable if plastic bags are reusable, but I'll tell you what isn't reusable: bin liners. And if we can't use the plastic bags from the shops as bin liners anymore, then we'll just be buying more disposable bags off the shelves for these other household requirements.
 
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Chief said:
They aren’t giving these bags away free in my local shops. Is it just Victoria?
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How do you know, your man-servant told you?
 
It's just one of the two primary options for bulk food purchasing trying to lure those overly opinionated but not particularly political buying dollars. It's cheaper for me to buy bags when I go to these stores because I'm buying like it's a very specific apocalypse. 15c a bag doesn't phase me when I'm getting half price on per tin but it really infuriates some people who see it as another cash grab.

Those people all shopped at Coles this week because of that.
 
Mofra said:
How do you know, your man-servant told you?
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Percy keeps me apprised of all the goings on in the local area. One does not wish to be caught off guard when the common mood turns.
 
JackOutback said:
Neither have Woolies. Or Aldi. Or any retailer in WA. So if they are losing market share, it's not because of plastic bags.
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Maybe not a % share but I wonder as they were talking about on Sky Business yesterday, if sales may be affected overall (albeit mainly short term) by people forgetting to bring their re-usable bags and just buying the bare essentials instead of adding in extra crap as well that most of us a probably guilty of.

Then again if you do forget it's still only 15c to buy one, which you would think the majority wouldn't be overly worried about.
 
its free real estate said:
There is a plastic bag ban in the ACT and the general impression is that it didn't solve anything.



https://www.canberratimes.com.au/na...ic-bag-ban-amid-concerns-20180126-h0onn5.html
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"
In his letter to Prof Auty, Mr Rattenbury wrote that "plastic bag manufacturers were quick to ensure that they were able to offer bags that were just over the 35 micron minimum limit to retailers".

"As a consequence I understand that many retailers and customers have not changed their behaviour around the use of plastic bags, and perversely may instead be using thicker plastic bags for single uses," the letter reads.

Mr Rattenbury wrote that he had considered several options to extend the ban, including increasing the legislated thickness of bags sold by retailers, or changing the scheme so only fully biodegradable bags could be offered to customers.

The review, he wrote, would also need to make recommendations as to "how and whether improvements could be made to improve overall environmental outcomes".
"

You'd need to get more information - it does sound a bit like a guesstimate.
 
Chief said:
"
In his letter to Prof Auty, Mr Rattenbury wrote that "plastic bag manufacturers were quick to ensure that they were able to offer bags that were just over the 35 micron minimum limit to retailers".

"As a consequence I understand that many retailers and customers have not changed their behaviour around the use of plastic bags, and perversely may instead be using thicker plastic bags for single uses," the letter reads.

Mr Rattenbury wrote that he had considered several options to extend the ban, including increasing the legislated thickness of bags sold by retailers, or changing the scheme so only fully biodegradable bags could be offered to customers.

The review, he wrote, would also need to make recommendations as to "how and whether improvements could be made to improve overall environmental outcomes".
"

You'd need to get more information - it does sound a bit like a guesstimate.
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The minister who introduced the legislation is the one most displeased with its outcomes. The reality is that plastic bags are one very small part of the problem, you get bananas wrapped in plastic on styrofoam trays and premixed salads in plastic at supermarkets nowadays. That wasn't the case 20 years ago, a plastic bag ban is finger in the dyke stuff.

If people want to make plastic go away, then keep researching the science that says plastic is making penises smaller. That will definitely change behaviour.
 

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its free real estate said:
The minister who introduced the legislation is the one most displeased with its outcomes. The reality is that plastic bags are one very small part of the problem, you get bananas wrapped in plastic on styrofoam trays and premixed salads in plastic at supermarkets nowadays. That wasn't the case 20 years ago, a plastic bag ban is finger in the dyke stuff.

If people want to make plastic go away, then keep researching the science that says plastic is making penises smaller. That will definitely change behaviour.
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And those other issues should remain on the table. I don't think anyone is saying the plastic bag issue is the only issue.
 
Chief said:
And those other issues should remain on the table. I don't think anyone is saying the plastic bag issue is the only issue.
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And I'm not saying that they're saying it's the only issue, it's just the evidence stacks up that banning plastic bags is ultmately fruitless

This was posted earlier in the thread

Suddenly, there were fewer shopping bags in the waste system. Trouble was that, just as suddenly, sales of thin-plastic bin liners went through the roof, so much so that now 80 per cent of SA households buy these, compared to 15 per cent before the ban on “single-use” bags we were actually using again.

Litter studies also showed a heavy fall in rates of light plastic found among other carelessly discarded rubbish in the years immediately after the ban’s introduction, but by 2016 this had been wiped out. There was in fact a slightly greater representation of such material than there had been in 2008.
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https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news...k=9d36069eb1746a0149e914ed25ba5bf2-1533174063
 
medusala said:
I hate nanny state nonsense as much as the next guy but not sure how anyone can say this is not a good thing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36917174

Plastic bag use has plummeted in England since the introduction of a 5p charge last year, the government has said.

In the six months after the levy was brought in last October, 640 million plastic bags were used in seven major supermarkets in England, it says.

In 2014, the waste reduction charity Wrap estimated the same shops had used 7.64 billion bags over the full year.

If that trend were to continue over the year this would be a drop of 83%.
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One could argue that is the opposite of nanny state policy anyway.

Our status quo is to make the environment and waste "somebody else's problem". Use taxpayers' money to fund the epa and others to look after it.

The example you cite takes the cost away from society and puts it back on the individual. Giving them a choice in the process, they can can choose to reduce waste, or personally bear the cost of the waste that society would otherwise have to pay.
 
The poor employees who work at Coles and Woolworths are the ones who will suffer the most, all the abuse they are and will continue to get from customers is the end result.

Coles will keep the bag.
 
Gough said:
Your opposition to this suggests to me that it's good policy.
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I go scuba diving all the time in summer, I have a passion for marine life and I am also the furthest thing from someone who doesn't care about animals.

However this is not a save the environment policy, this is a increase our profit policy because instead of handing out something for free they are now charging money for it. The problem I suspect they will have is that sales will go down, think about why they handed out free bags to begin with ? so people would buy as much goods as possible, by not handing out free bags they are also offering a deterrent to purchase less goods.

I know myself I have been spending less money to avoid paying for a bag.
 
Kram said:
Yeah I haven't bought a bin liner in years because I simply re-use shopping bags as bins. Also living in a small town that the only supermarket switched over early a few months back you see those 15c 're-usable' ones floating around the place as litter just as much.
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Even if you do buy bin liners, shopping bags are great for disposal of nappies, cleaning up dog/cat s**t, etc.
 
They melt together under the heat of an iron, I would think that a slashing machine that tears up bags of rubbish and a vacuum could suck up the plastic and then melt it together into a brick. That's not getting eaten.

But I hazard a guess that the plastic that ends up at the refuse sites isn't the problem.
 
Tayl0r said:
They melt together under the heat of an iron, I would think that a slashing machine that tears up bags of rubbish and a vacuum could suck up the plastic and then melt it together into a brick. That's not getting eaten.

But I hazard a guess that the plastic that ends up at the refuse sites isn't the problem.
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Most of the plastic in the oceans comes from South East Asia. I went swimming at Christmas Island a few years back, and the reef was covered in plastic. None of it was coming from the island itself.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...addiction-blights-worlds-oceans-idUSKCN1J10LM
 
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