They do, but they still don’t make it back to the stores enough, and nobody has 16 wastebaskets to line every week. Also the old ones were just as suitable for wastebasket duty.

The bag laws have done nothing but increase the consumption of plastic, since stores still go through nearly as many, but they’re 5x thicker now.

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grues-dinner 18 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> The current data provided by the main retailers for the reporting year 2024 to 2025 shows a reduction of almost 98% on the annual number of single-use carrier bags sold since the charge was introduced. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carrier-bag-charg...

5x thicker is still a net win.

And it was less about reducing plastic consumption and more about reducing plastic pollution. 1000 tonnes of plastic in a landfill and incinerators (because the heavier bags are more likely to be reused even just as bin bags) is better than 200 tonnes blowing around and decaying into environmental microplastics.

In terms of total plastic consumption, 8 billion plastic bags (what the UK used before the charge) is maybe between 20000 and 40000 tonnes depending on thickness. Which is pretty minor on the scale of plastic usage considering how much plastic crap and packaging was and still is used.

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WD-42 a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The only time I even get one of those things is if I forget my regular bag or I buy too much stuff to fit. That happens like once a month. Why are you going into the store empty handed and coming out with 16 plastic bags?

	▲	xp84 a day ago \| parent [-]
		Not everyone is you. 16 is mild hyperbole, but I'm not even speaking normatively on what people should do. I'm speaking about what people do do. I'll stipulate that everyone including me should always keep at least 10 bags in my car so that I can do about 2 typical shopping trips even if I forget to put them back in the car. And we should always remember to carry them in. But that isn't happening with the current hilariously poor incentives in place (50 measly cents to buy 5 bags and no bag deposit either.) I predict that if you spend 10 minutes observing the checkouts in your supermarket you'll see exactly what I see: At least 75% of people buying new plastic bags for the transaction, and zero people depositing bags into the special bag recycling bin at the store - which in the US is basically the only place this type of plastic is even accepted for recycling. And again, these bags appear to be 3-5x as thick as the old bags, so the bag law is a huge win for Big Plastic who sells more plastic than they used to, and it mostly goes into the landfill. The solutions: • Admit this is a failed policy • Everyone everywhere stops being imperfect, forgetful and lazy -- 100% of the time. California is still hoping for the latter to pan out!

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what a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Why are you buying 16 bags worth of stuff every week? That seems like the bigger problem.

	▲	bombcar a day ago \| parent [-]
		If you have a family and a grocery store in walking distance you can do it easily; I would hit 16 if I forgot my shopping bag - which I do on occasion.