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Plastic bags have become the scapegoats in our society and 'I'm not a plastic bag' bags are the new celebrities. But let's face it -- most of us are guilty of picking up the odd shoddy plastic carrier bag now and then and Sainsbury's knows that. So the supermarket has today joined forces with Justin and Michelle Chieffo from the ITV show Tycoon with hotshot businessman, Peter Jones, and created the 'little bag of bags'.
The little bag, which is made from Fairtrade cotton, is designed to make us reuse plastic bags. How so? Well, it can hold 30 carrier bags from past shopping trips and as it can be hung on a coat peg it's supposed to remind us to bring the bags with us when we head off for the shops. It'll also make it easier for us to store and carry the carrier bags, which supposedly will encourage us to use the flimsy shopping bags more than once, too.
We like the idea of the 'little bag of bags' encouraging us to reuse supermarket carrier bags, but we also think charging for plastic bags at the checkout will make us remember to do so, which seems to work in Ireland. Let us know what you think of the Sainsbury's bag in the comments below.
The 'little bag of bags' will be available from today at all Sainsbury's stores for 75p.
06 February 2008 09:04am
I actually quite like this. Even though I carry my backpack most places, I still occasionally forget it and need to get plastic carriers.
06 February 2008 09:22am
Bag holders are already available from Lakeland Plastics and other shops - it's not a new idea. I suppose it might be handy to be able to buy a cheap one at the checkout, and people will still be using plastic bags for a good few years, but I also think Sainsbury's is going for the easy option here. And isn't it convenient that it features a Sainsbury's logo - it's as if nobody has thought if it before now. It would be much more newsworthy and gutsy to charge for bags in the first place, and the message about plastic bag use would really hit home to the lazier or less well-informed consumer.
06 February 2008 09:54am
If you need to store a lot of plastic bags, then why not use one of the bags? Do we need a specific product for it?
06 February 2008 10:24am
I agree - just use one of the plastic bags you've got. Seems to be unnecessary and bags that hold bags have been around for years anyway.
07 February 2008 10:29am
Sooo dated. Mr Jones and Justin Chieffo why do we need to buy a little bag thats says little bags of bags and pay 75p for it???I can use a normal carrier bag for that and do because we collect our bags and give them to our local Farmshop, who may I point recyles bags in the community and charges for ther own bags.
We all need to take a good look at Germany and take a leaf out of their book when it comes to recycling.
So long as it makes these guys a load of money, thats all that really counts to them. Profit Profit Profit. Great Pr shot though Peter Jones has a bit of a cheesy grin though and I am sure he was the first to do the figures and margin's.
07 February 2008 12:00pm
I used to keep my carrier bags in a cardboard box with a slit cut out of it to pull the bags out. Better than this money for old bags.
08 February 2008 02:27pm
Well it has us chatting about it so it is working as a marketing tool, doesn't have anything else going for it though!
08 February 2008 02:43pm
why would you pay 75p for a bag to hold your existing bags? pointless!
10 February 2008 11:37am
I assume you use this particular "bag of bags" because it reminds you to re-use plastic bags, whereas putting plastic bags in another plastic bag could just lead to you accidentally throwing it away, thus ending up back at square one.
It says all this in the article, and I guess it's evident in our world that people *do* need this reminder anyway, so I support it.
16 February 2008 07:59pm
Sainsburys bags are so thin nowdays I can't seem to re-use even one unless I have had less than 10 items in it and nothing with 'sharp' cardboard packaging. I think charging for bags is a much better way to get people to reconsider using plastic bags and it may force us all to use fabric bags ? It would certainly remind me to put one or 2 in my handbag out of the about 20 that I have !
20 February 2008 08:56am
I made one of these myself years ago when I saw the pattern in a woman's magazine and it's still going strong.
25 February 2008 12:59pm
I think the incentive schemes work best - the 'reward bag' loyalty schemes, where you get rewarded for remembering to bring your own bag.
Bags of Change is one - and they don't work with the big chain stores, only with small, ethical independents.
26 February 2008 02:23pm
Australia has a voluntary plastic bag levy, places like IDEA will enforce it at 10c/bag; but a full phase out by the end of this year.
http://www.noplasticbags.org.au/
29 February 2008 05:01pm
Now the Daily Mail is getting on the bandwagon and is doing a full on campaign, I suspect we'll see Mittell England rise up...
18 April 2008 10:07am
nice idea but i believe they should supply bio degradable bags instead! one of the main problems with plastic is landfill.
but i fully embrace this idea!
04 May 2008 06:31pm
in St. Petersburg, Russia, at least when i was there 12 years ago, there was no such thing as plastic bags at shops at all. they were not given out whatsoever. everyone simply had bags at home that they always used for their groceries and other shopping. there's no need really for shops to give out bags at all. its not like there's anyone who doesn't have bags at home of some sort that they could use. i now this would require a huge shift in culture, but imagine home much less plastic would have to be produced, and then how much less waste there'd be. materially and in terms of green house gases and such.
05 June 2008 02:21pm
its a complete gimmick! but if it works to get more bags reused then great. Im in favour of charging for bags as theres too many people out there that need that kind of motivation unfortunately.
11 June 2008 10:19pm
it dosent cost eny more to make it bio digradeabul so why dont we!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :( <(-_-)>
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