Supermarket plastic bag surcharge.

[Charliewool]

This has been touted on the news down here in Vic lately to once again "help the damn environment"! (Read below)

I know what I'll be doing!... And that's to leave the whole bloody lot of my shopping at the checkout when the levy appears on the checkout screen!
If enough do the same, Coles & Woolies will soon be wallowing in rotting groceries at each checkout.
Honestly, this environmental crap is really starting to irk me!..
I thought the bags were bio-degradable anyhow?





SUPERMARKET shoppers will pay between 10 and 25 cents for every plastic bag they use when levies are trialled in a few weeks in Victoria.

Up to 10 Safeway and Coles supermarkets are being recruited by the State Government in Victoria for the month-long trial, due to begin in August.

The new environmental levy comes as another financial blow to cash-strapped consumers.

Shoppers at the participating city and rural supermarkets will pay between 10 and 25 cents per plastic bag, including for home deliveries.

Safeway stores in Berwick, Hampton Park, Fountain Gate, Wangaratta and Warrnambool are confirmed to be among those taking part in the trial of the controversial green levy, with several Coles stores expected to sign on formally this week.

The levy could vary between rival trial stores, which has angered supermarket giants already fearing a shopper backlash and proved a sticking point in locking down the details of the pilot program.

Wangaratta Safeway's acting manager said his store got "official notification" about the trial late last week.

"We're supposed to be getting all sorts of materials, various in-store posters, early this week," he said.

"We'll start training all of our staff up as a matter of urgency."

With Environment Minister Gavin Jennings expected to formally announce the trial this week, staff at test stores expressed fear profits would drop as customers switched to rivals offering free plastic bags.

The State Government and the Australian National Retailers Association yesterday denied participating stores had been confirmed.

A supermarket insider said all revenue raised during the 31-day trial would be donated to an environmental fund, saying: "It is not about raising revenue for us."

But Australian Retailers Association executive director Richard Evans said the trial would hit customers hard.

"We don't believe the trial is long enough," he said.

"All it's going to do is increase the costs for consumers. I don't think we're going to see a reduction in plastic bags."

He said the Government had not consulted retailers enough on plastic bag levies.

A Government spokeswoman said the environment and shoppers would be winners in the trial.

"Customers will be able to use alternative options to avoid the charge and help the environment," she said.

"The Brumby Government is the first state to take practical action on plastic bags and we believe that a voluntary approach with retailers, rather than a mandatory charge or complete ban will deliver the best outcome for the environment and customers."

ANRA spokeswoman Liz Rodway refused to confirm details of the trial.

"Negotiations are still in progress and nothing has been finalised," she said.

[Powdered Toast Man]

I use green canvas bags when I do my grocery shopping anyway, have done for years.

It's only the Friday or Saturday night when I drop in for goodies/snacks that I get plastic. They might as well charge for that, they have just implimented the gold coin locks on the trolleys so why wouldn't they charge for everything they can :(

[Charliewool]

I reckon we're all being conned with these "Green" bags anyhow??
Are they not made from non-woven polypropylene?
Polypropylene being a fossil fuel-based plastic, which is basically the same "almost indestructible" material Wheelie bins and car bumpers are made from!
The bags are also imported from China.

[|||]

wow 25c per bag. looks like i'll have to get a second job.

[King Nothing]

A Government spokeswoman said the environment and shoppers would be winners in the trial.

"Customers will be able to use alternative options to avoid the charge and help the environment," she said.

LOL, yeah, what a winner we will all be! We win by going to another supermarket or having to BUY green bags to avoid paying a TAX that we never had before. If that happens I'll just walk the trolley home and dump it in a creek.

EDIT: let's do some really quick numbers. At 25c per bag, assume the average family uses, say 10 bags at a conservative guess, at 4 people per household. That's $2.50 per week per household. 20,000,000 people in Aus, thats 5,000,000 shopping trips a week. So the government rakes in $12,500,000 per week, $650,000,000 per year, and manages to look like it's doing something about the environment.

[XR06T]

i also thought plastic shopping bags were recycleable?

are the green bags?

[Full Noise]

Originally Posted by King Nothing

EDIT: let's do some really quick numbers. At 25c per bag, assume the average family uses, say 10 bags at a conservative guess, at 4 people per household. That's $2.50 per week per household. 20,000,000 people in Aus, thats 5,000,000 shopping trips a week. So the government rakes in $12,500,000 per week, $650,000,000 per year, and manages to look like it's doing something about the environment.

Not only that, we already pay for plastic shopping bags because their cost is factored into the price of the bloody groceries.

Do these numbskulls in Canberra think that the supermarkets give them to us out of the goodness of their hearts?

[Ralliart]

god dam Australian Government scumbags: : , oh well, not using plastic bags now, bad enough i have to listen to them Dam Announcements while i'm @ work.

[conordec]

sorry guys,

have to go against the norm.

plastic bags don't degrade, even in the sun it takes 1000 plus years.

i'm not a greenie, but can see the sense in it all, why not just take your own bags?

i'm for it, if you don't want to pay for your bags, take your own, would be ****ed though if i got charged if i had my own bags though.

[RG]

Meh doesn't worry me, I shop at ALDI.

[Powdered Toast Man]

Originally Posted by King Nothing

LOL, yeah, what a winner we will all be! We win by going to another supermarket or having to BUY green bags to avoid paying a TAX that we never had before. If that happens I'll just walk the trolley home and dump it in a creek.

If I do that then it costs me a minimum of $1 a trolley, $2 if I dont have a $1 coin : Although I could since I only live about 10 houses away from the supermarket.

Originally Posted by charliewool

I reckon we're all being conned with these "Green" bags anyhow??
Are they not made from non-woven polypropylene?
Polypropylene being a fossil fuel-based plastic, which is basically the same "almost indestructible" material Wheelie bins and car bumpers are made from!
The bags are also imported from China.

I'm not defending the decision but the difference between the green bags and regular plastic bags is the fact that I am still using the same 3 bags I bought almost 4 years ago, as compared to disposing of the equivalent 6 or so plastic bags it takes to hold the same amount of groceries every week.

So thats approx 1200 bags over that time. Although regular plastic bags do get reused in my house, but normally as rubbish bags anyway.

[TOASTED]

Originally Posted by conordec

sorry guys,

have to go against the norm.

plastic bags don't degrade, even in the sun it takes 1000 plus years.

i'm not a greenie, but can see the sense in it all, why not just take your own bags?

i'm for it, if you don't want to pay for your bags, take your own, would be ****ed though if i got charged if i had my own bags though.

baahaaaha lets all start taking our old rolled up plastic bags to woolies and ask that the checkout chic uses them rather than new ones

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by Powdered Toast Man

regular plastic bags do get reused in my house, but normally as rubbish bags anyway.

Exactly. My shopping bags become garbage bags. So if I bought my own bags I would then have to buy plastic garbage bags to store and dispose of garbage. Net change in plastic bags in my household? Zero point zero.

If they bring it into effect at my local, I'll shop elsewhere.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by conordec

sorry guys,

have to go against the norm.

plastic bags don't degrade, even in the sun it takes 1000 plus years.

i'm not a greenie, but can see the sense in it all, why not just take your own bags?

i'm for it, if you don't want to pay for your bags, take your own, would be ****ed though if i got charged if i had my own bags though.

Depends on the supermarket, you can get ones that have bio-degradable on them. Once water hits it, it doesn't take that long.

As for this thread, just take green bags in (or if your european get the mum/grandma to make you some bags) and use them. Jesus find something more pointless to complain about.

[TOASTED]

Originally Posted by conordec

sorry guys,

have to go against the norm.

plastic bags don't degrade, even in the sun it takes 1000 plus years.

i'm not a greenie, but can see the sense in it all, why not just take your own bags?

i'm for it, if you don't want to pay for your bags, take your own, would be ****ed though if i got charged if i had my own bags though.

baahaaaha lets all start taking our old rolled up plastic bags to woolies and ask that the checkout chic uses them rather than new ones

[rodderz]

Missus does the shopping, I know not of what goes down at the supermarket!

We do reuse the plastic bags though, we keep them in a bigger bag to use for rubbish etc for those smaller desk bins.

[TERRY TORRY]

: All plastic bags aren't biodegradable but if they wanted to fix the problem make them all biodegradible. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO the governgreens wouldn't think of this. It takes BRAINS. What they are coming at is you can't put your rubbish in them you have to BUY ones to put your garbage in. Hence de governmeant gets de GST etc outa dem. Have you seen plastic bags walking down de road to de ocean and jumping in to choke every f...... thing? Blame the plastic bags.!!!! It ain't us Humanbeans, Is It? :

[Full Noise]

Originally Posted by TERRY TORRY

Blame the plastic bags.!!!! It ain't us Humanbeans, Is It? :

Err, human beings.

[Abacus]

Originally Posted by Powdered Toast Man

If I do that then it costs me a minimum of $1 a trolley, $2 if I dont have a $1 coin :

Regarding the trolleys - you do know that you get your money back when you take the trolley back and stick the chain back in the coin lock, don't you........

[HLC]

that is a joke.

do these muppets even realise that it is more detrimental to the environment to make these stupid greenbags than it is to churn out thousands of plastic bags that, whilst they may not degade for a while, cost the environment much less in the effort required to manufacture, and print the things.

[conordec]

Originally Posted by craigosmoddedEF

baahaaaha lets all start taking our old rolled up plastic bags to woolies and ask that the checkout chic uses them rather than new ones

I said take your own bags, if you want to take rolled up plastic bags then whatever floats your boat, fine, but I was reffering to other bags.

[HLC]

to add to my rant, im sick of this bs sustainable design crap. i'm an industrial design student and did a sub-major in sustainable design, which is, looking at designing to conserve the environment and all this sort of crap.

WE DONT HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS THAT WILL ACTUALLY BENEFIT THE ENVIRONMENT. creating anything which may have less of an ecological burden compared to something else currently on the market, often costs a shedload more money and requires a lot more effort to make, and there is a good chance that it'll end up being worse for the environment anyway. Toyota Prius anyone?

The governing bodies on this planet need to give up with these useless bandaid solutions and actually think and try and develop something that could actually help. as charliewool said, these green bags are polyprop as is, so they are effectively, another plastic bag. well done to the powers that be.

[StAndArdAU]

Originally Posted by charliewool

I know what I'll be doing!... And that's to leave the whole bloody lot of my shopping at the checkout when the levy appears on the checkout screen!
If enough do the same, Coles & Woolies will soon be wallowing in rotting groceries at each checkout.
Honestly, this environmental crap is really starting to irk me!..
I thought the bags were bio-degradable anyhow?[/I]

Ummm you do realise that shopping bags that get left behind whether they've been paid for or not, get put back on the shelf if you dont return after like 2hours to retrieve it yeah.

This is probably the worst gripe i've ever read on here. really clutching at straws for something to whinge about. The green canvass bags are cheap, strong and hold more than a plastic bag. i think they cost just over a dollar? which means after one visit to the shops after the tax introduction they would have paid for themselves.

[04XR6]

Just keep in mind that this is a government thing NOT a supermarket thing. The government is trying to show the greenies they care. The supermarkets have been told for over two years to reduce the quanties of plastic bag use gradually as this will come into effect. And trust me, supermarkets will not profit from the surcharge ! and as for the throwing the trolley into the creek commment, remember that they cost from $200 to $400 a piece so that needs to be recovered somewhere so dont whinge every time price increase.......

[StAndArdAU]

as charliewool said, these green bags are polyprop as is, so they are effectively, another plastic bag. well done to the powers that be.

The idea is that they can be reused hundreds of times. you dont buy them then throw them out. Also, although unlikely, if everyone bought them the amount needed to be manufactured would decline over time and so eventually their impact would be very minimal compared to plastic bags. you need to look at the broader picture.

[deesun]

And the green bags being polypropelyne dont break down ever,never ever. : Made in China- the worst polluting country on the planet. :

If we wanted to we could force the supermarkets to use biodegradable bags which only take 3-4 months to break down.

[StAndArdAU]

Originally Posted by Russell

Meh doesn't worry me, I shop at ALDI.

Aldi have charged customers for plastic bags since 2001

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by charliewool

This has been touted on the news down here in Vic lately to once again "help the damn environment"! (Read below)

I know what I'll be doing!... And that's to leave the whole bloody lot of my shopping at the checkout when the levy appears on the checkout screen!
If enough do the same, Coles & Woolies will soon be wallowing in rotting groceries at each checkout.
Honestly, this environmental crap is really starting to irk me!..
I thought the bags were bio-degradable anyhow?

Get over it. What irks me is people whinging about the big 2 retailers all the time, everyone has to eat so when it effects them they crack up about it. Its in the news now on here, i work for woolies and we as staff are in the same boat with prices etc, discount isnt work the plastic its printed on. Just get some breen bags and quit whinging :

[StAndArdAU]

Originally Posted by deesun

And the green bags being polypropelyne dont break down ever,never ever. : Made in China- the worst polluting country on the planet. :

If we wanted to we could force the supermarkets to use biodegradable bags which only take 3-4 months to break down.

No they're not biodegradable but they are recyclable and the woolworths sold ones are made from 40% recyclable material.

[HLC]

Originally Posted by StAndArdAU

The idea is that they can be reused hundreds of times. you dont buy them then throw them out. Also, although unlikely, if everyone bought them the amount needed to be manufactured would decline over time and so eventually their impact would be very minimal compared to plastic bags. you need to look at the broader picture.

look at the broader picture? we have tons in our cupboards that never get used, im sure this is the same for a lot of people. i dont see them catching on anytime soon.

PLUS, if you leave your green bags at home, oh well, i'll just have to buy another half dozen to put the shopping in. there will always be demand and manufacturing wont slow down anytime soon. not while we are alive anyway.