Why can't UK use brown paper bags instead of plastic bags for grocery shopping?

Question

My friend in the US said they use brown paper bags made from recycled materials for grocery shopping which is more environmentally friendly. why can't we do the same in UK?

Answer 1

did you know his country pollutes the most and that they havent signed up to the Kyotot protocol (pollution treaty) - tell him not to lecture us

Answer 2

Yes, I agree. There is no reason other than the supermarkets would say 'The public demand plastic bags' I have never understood what this means. Sainsbury used to have brown carrier bags and they worked very well !

It will be something to do with money, like everything else.

Isn't it about time this environmentally concerned government started to do something, rather than just introduce fines.

Answer 3

i always get plastic bags. and i recycle them myself so i don't want to hear it. you know...if you were really environmentally conscious, you'd get some reusable cloth satchels and take those with you to the store to put your groceries in....

and i like the comment about using paper if you drive a car. it's not really practical to use paper if you don't have a car, this is true. so, you could drive to the store, polluting with your gasoline and use paper bags which is environmentally friendly or you could walk to the store and save the environment from your harmful emissions and throw some non-degradable plastic into a landfill somewhere from the plastic bags you have to get to actually get your groceries home. what's the lesser of two evils?

Answer 4

If you go to a UK supermarket you can pick up a 'bag for life' or a material bag which is stronger than brown bags

Answer 5

it would certainly solve the prob of getting rid of the polly bags

thedon't break down that easilly in the rubish tips and could

cause probs for future gens

good Q.

c yah..

Answer 6

we used to!

Answer 7

Because, that would cost money.  You should know by now that most companies are in business to make as much money as they can - they only jump on the bandwaggon to appear like they care about the environment.  Take a look at the"organic" range when you next visit the supermarket - you will see that most of it is flown in from the four corners of the earth - i.e. thousand of miles by air - not very green and ethical is it!

Answer 8

have you not seen loads of american films where they are coming out with say 2 brown bags [ i mean if you have 3 you are struggling !!!] Look they may look good but i really don't think you have thought this out, And ask your self who recycles more usa or uk ???  and i mean everything, And Americas  Co2 Emissions bellowing out omgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg...

they may use brown bags but in other areas they are very very slow to change.

Answer 9

I go to the US frequently and they have the choice of plastic or paper in every supermarket I've been in!

Maybe the US aren't the best at environmental preservation, but at least they do this...and have done so for years.

Answer 10

I think you might be a bit out of date.

Yes, the US used to brown-bag all the shopping some years ago, and you can still see this in old films, but this was when the cheapest material for bags was brown paper made from wood-pulp, almost a by-product of the extensive logging that provided the timber to build most of the American infrastructure. Nowadays the US is short of home-grown timber, and also wood-pulp is more expensive because it is now used for other things besides paper, such as chip-board, insulation-board, fibre-board etc. So, recycled materials are the choice for brown paper now, to keep costs down, but, believe it or not, recycled materials are dearer than wood-pulp used to be. The cheapest material by far, as in other economies, is plastic, derived from petro-chemicals, which is why the US, like us, only rarely supplies brown bags nowadays . Hope this helps.

Answer 11

But how will you cope when your frozen items are packed in a paper bag....not fogetting a poly bottle of milk or two?

Answer 12

waiting for this environmentally correct decision,we can only try to use less plastic bags we can,bringing one frome home (keepin it in our handbags or backbags) or tryin not to waste them,just for one or two items we've bought..

Answer 13

all the shopping falls out before you get it home

Answer 14

I live in Ireland and we've had a bag levy for years now it means that at a shop you can pay 15c for a plastic bag or get a free recyclable paper bag  im very glad that my country has done this and the uk should do the same.

Answer 15

I think it depends on the money, i know that the plastic ones are much cheaper. I work for a company which uses the paper bags, although ours are white, because the company has a white logo.. :)

Answer 16

Carrier bags are not much of a problem here in the UK, we recycle them and make them into plastic chairs ad tables and park benches that are vertually indestructable.

Also some bags are not completely bio degradable and dissolve quickly in landfil or if they blow off into a hedgerow.

Answer 17

You would have to compare the cost . No supermarket will increase their costs because of environmental reasons. We used to have paper carrier bags many years ago  before plastic was invented. If it was raining and the bag got wet it split and all your shopping went over the ground. If TV and films are correct the bags the Americans use are large but do not have handles. Might be difficult to handle two or three of these and a couple oh kids  as well. Not every body has cars.

Answer 18

Yes why don't we? It's not as if we shop in the rain or use the handles on our plastic shopping bags??? Recycling tips from the worlds No 1 polluter, yes please!

Answer 19

Brown paper bags only work if you have a car and you transfer them from trolley to car & car to home - imagine trying to carry armfulls of bags home from sainsburys in the pouring rain.

A lot of english people still do their shopping on foo or by bus, rather than load of the car, drive to the supermarket and drive home.

Answer 20

i live in th u.s and we dont have brown paper bags at any store except crest , so ur not missing out