I was horrified

It works in Scotland, and it will work in England once people get used to it. You are asked whether you want a bag. If you do, you pay for it - and because you have paid (even just 5p) you keep it in your handbag for next time. People complained bitterly at first, but they soon learnt. Sales of folding canvas bags and nylon ones that squash up very small have rocketed. I keep a canvas bag and a nylon one in my backpack, and never have to buy a bag.

When you order from Tesco online you are asked if it is bags or not. If not, everything is packed into a plastic crate. A few specific things are in small bags. Thay unpack it all onto the kitchen table, then it is up to you to put it away.

The down side is that the supply of free pedal-bin bags has dried up, but for larger bins there are always the charity bags that drop through the lettterbox with depressing regularity.

The recycling process is not without its problems though. Does it make sense for any bag to be only used once? Why can't they deliver in cardboard boxes can be re-used until they fall apart or are dirty? Cardboard is natural, and is much easier to recycle or compost.

I shop on-line and Sainsbury's deliver. They also collect the bags and take them back for re-cycling. Seems a reasonable solution.

Well, it won't be happening from October this year, unless customers are prepared to pay 5p for each of them.

last time we were in the UK we just could not believe our eyes at the tills- cashiers were pulling out about 10 bags per client- and shoppers only putting a few items in each bag. It's really shocking to anyone who lives where this does never happen.

WHen the children were small, i used to cut the bottom off plastic bags and put the bags on the children as painting aprons. The arms went through the handles. Brilliant.

Hate plastic bags - always have my own, and have for many many years. When Tesco sent me too many [as in*loads*[ of bag siwth the shopping, i complained, and they stopped sending bags at all. Result!!!

Sorry it should read "ban on" and "recycled the bags"!!

Before the banon free bags came in here in Scotland I always recycle the bags as kitchen bin liners. I now buy bin liners on a roll at the supermarket to use for this purpose. Is this anymore eco friendly?? We keep fold up plastic boxes in the car to put our food shopping in. I always carry bags when I buy clothes, birthday cards etc but find this annoying. Fortunately my favourite knitting shop provides small sandwich bags to put buttons in as these would easily get lost!

that should be

I always carry a bag for life and a folding bag in my handbag, but often when I get to the checkout and say "no, I don't want a bag" (as I rummage for my own) the cashier ignores me and puts the things in a new bag anyway.
I then have to faff about taking everything out and putting it in my own bag [hmmm]

How often do I arrive at one of our 3 local supermarkets with out a carrier from my vast collection or a hessian bag????? Frequently. How often do I arrive at M&S where they charge? Rarely! I can't be the only one like this.

DH refuses to keep shopping bags in the car so as he does the shopping I end up with a pile of bags to go in the recycling. I don't say anything but oh it does annoy me.

We have recycled efficiently before and I'm sure we could do it again if there were a real commitment from national and local government and a combination of rewards and sanctions. Litter is another related problem which costs us £mmm and encourages foxes, seagulls, rats, pigeons and other scavengers.

Any suggestions from anyone then - what will the UK do when it soon runs out of landfill sites???

Totally agree Hilda. I imagine a huge number of plastic bags in meditarenean countries and other countries near the sea end up in the water- choking birds, dolphins, whales and many more - absolutely tragic.

There has never been a time Elegran when we were expected to bring our own bags for buying clothes or other non food items. Clothes would be parcelled up in brown paper and string. All biodegradable. Brown paper supermarket bags were introduced from America and we were weaned off bringing our own food shopping bags in the interests of these supermarkets advertising themselves.

Whether plastic bags will make a difference to the huge problem is, I believe, a moot point. What is important is that we try and solve as many problems as possible. It then becomes an incremental thing....one thing leading to another and then hopefully mind-sets will be changed and more and more solutions will be found. I get very het up with people who do not see it as 'their' problem and argue that their lack of environmental action is only a drop in the ocean and therefore not worth the effort.....and don't get me started on what's happening to the sea!

From the Independent... in 2010 (so 3 years left at best):

ritain will today be declared the "dustbin of Europe" after warnings that it will run out of landfill sites in less than eight years.

The UK buries more than 18.8 million tonnes of household waste – two million tonnes more than any other EU country. On current trends, British taxpayers will face "fines" of up to £180m a year by 2020 if targets under an EU scheme to reduce the amount of paper, food and garden waste being send to landfill sites are not met. Penalties will be imposed on local authorities but will, in effect, be passed on to residents.

57 million tonnes of rubbish, including industrial waste, are being disposed in landfill sites each year. With 650 million cubic metres of capacity left in the ground – three times the volume of Lake Windermere – the UK will reach its limit by 2018.

Although the amount of rubbish sent to landfill has fallen by a third since 2000, councils say more needs to be done to head off the threat of fines.

Gary Porter, chairman of the Local Government Association's environment board, said: "Householders should be congratulated for the efforts they have made in recent years to increase the amount of rubbish they recycle. But that doesn't change the fact that Britain is fast running out of space to dump rubbish in the ground."

He added: "An area the size of Warwick is already being used to dump Britain's rubbish and unless there are radical changes in the way we produce and dispose of our waste it is estimated we will run out of landfill space in less than eight years time." (= 3 NOW)

Is that what we want for our grandchildren? Mind you, plastic bags won't make a huge difference, I suppose.

Perhaps for another thread, but I would welcome suggestions as to what the UK will do when it runs out of landfill sites very soon?

Just come back from Greece and they dish out bags like sweeties.

We took ours home as we like to wrap detritus before binning.

Maybe the next thing Madame Merkel might put a stop, to as in Germany they are so strict about what goes in which bin and you can be fined

Horrified indeed - and amazed that people have not got the message yet. Here no bags are given- and it is so rare to see anyone shopping without their own bags- that whenever we visit the UK it really is such a shock/surprise! Why oh why- it is really not difficult to take your own bags, surely? Tons and tons that go straight to landfill sites- the UK is going to run out of landfill sites in about 3 years' time- what then?

Here all rubbish is incinerated, there is NO space for landfill.

Most of us are old enough to remember the days when going shopping without a bag was as featherbrained as going skiing without your skis. If you bought a loaf or a pint of milk on impulse you carried it home under your arm, or you kept a string or nylon bag in your pocket or handbag. Many shops sold them cheaply.

At some point carrier bags for the improvident amnesiac became the automatic provision of them for everyone who entered the shop - and the supermarkets soon saw that they could advertise by blazoning their name across them. They then adorned tree branches and shrubberies across the country and choked landfill sites with never-rot torn grey plastic.

It has come full circle - If you can't plan ahead, you pay for something to carry your shopping home. So what's new?

Yes phoenix....you are right!

To save myself the 'no bag' embarrassment ages ago I bought a 'turtle' string bag....a bit like one's Granny used to have. In our family its called my 'sting vest', anyway its scrunched up in the bottom of my modest sized handbag and has proved very useful over the years!

HildaW both Aldi and Lidl (both "foreign" brands) do not supply any free bags, you either take your own or pay.

My daughter has a gift shop here. She has to charge 5p even for paper carriers, which I don't agree with - we have enough rain to deal with those quite rapidly. Only certain small paper bags without handles are free. Bags for unwrapped foodstuffs are exempt.