Monday 1 February 2016

Fun Online Polls: Donald Trump; Plastic bags.

The results to last fortnight's Fun Online Poll:

Should Donald Trump be banned from coming to the UK?

Yes - 5%
No - 95%


That's crystal clear, I would have thought. I was with the majority yet again. A good turnout on 188, but as mentioned, the poll did run for two weeks.
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Something else I've been thinking about…

From The Telegraph:

The 5p plastic bag levy has resulted in an almost 80 per cent drop in the number of bags taken home by supermarket shoppers in England, the first data since the introduction of the charge suggests.

Early figures from Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, suggest the levy is succeeding in its aim of drastically reducing usage of single-use carrier bags, 7.6 billion of which were handed out by major English supermarkets last year alone.


That works out at about six or seven supermarket plastic bags per household per week pre-5 October 2015, which seems 'about right' i.e. a trolley full at the weekend plus a couple of smaller shops in the week.

I ended up paying 5p once, shortly after the 'tax' was introduced, but that was it. Since then I've managed to remember to bring my own bags or I just make do without. So my plastic bag usage is, on the face of it*, down nearly 100%. Is this the same for everybody?

Vote here or use the widget in the sidebar.

* As Nessimmersion points out in the comments, perhaps people are just buying more bin liners etc.

8 comments:

Nessimmersion said...

Not the correct comparison, we used to recycle, now we bulk buy. The true plastic bag figure should include the total number of bin bags, pedal bin liners, nappy & dog crap bags etc etc. Any one want to take a bet on numbers sold pre & post ban, I know the numbers shot up in Ireland when the Puritans banned carrier bags over there. The issue was raised here, but as the financial levy falls disproportionately on the poor it could be ignored.

Mark Wadsworth said...

N, correct, to some extent demand is being shifted to other products. Further, plastic carrier bags only make up about 0.1% of total plastic waste, so I really don't understand the obsession with banning them. Maybe I'll do a poll on that next week - "are you buying more bin bags etc?"

Lola said...

The very good thing about one time use bags is hygiene. Taking the shopping home in a brand new bag makes sure that no bacteria from previous usage is present in the bag to contaminate anything. We clean out our re-usable bags every so often.

Antisthenes said...

Apparently plastic bags without handles do not qualify for the tax. So some are handing out these types bags so the figures may be vary distorted.

mombers said...

I stopped using single use bags at the turn of the century. Earned literally tens of pounds over the last 15 years through Nectar points and Tesco Clubcard.

Mark Wadsworth said...

M: "Earned literally tens of pounds over the last 15 years through Nectar points and Tesco Clubcard"

You just made me sneeze beer.

Bayard said...

"The true plastic bag figure should include the total number of bin bags, pedal bin liners, nappy & dog crap bags etc etc. "

Well, the single use bags are too small to be used as bin liners, even a bit small for pedal bin liners (unless you use the Lidl ones, but they've always charged for them). I don't know about nappies, but if the bag tax has stopped people using them for dog crap bags then so much the better, since most people seem to just throw bag and shit into the nearest hedge. I think 95% of the whingeing about the bag tax is just people resenting having to pay for something that originally was free.

"Further, plastic carrier bags only make up about 0.1% of total plastic waste, so I really don't understand the obsession with banning them."

Probably because they make up a disproportionate amount of the plastic waste that blows about as litter and ends up in hedges, trees etc.

Lola, what on earth do you put in your carrier bags? Most of the stuff you buy from supermarkets is wrapped, so hygiene isn't an issue and what isn't wrapped (fruit etc.) has probably been handled by an number of strangers of unknown cleanliness prior to you buying it.

Kevin said...

I get enough plastic bags,from charities after old clothes etc, through my letter box every month to ensure I don't need to buy bin bags.