Selfsufficientish.com

Milims wrote:I bought a shopping trolley recent'y and it's the best thing I've ever done! It's a big funky orange thing and it holds loads! I've had a few funny looks but quite frankly I don't give a damn - not only is it infinately re-usable but also I'm not the one struggling to carry lots of heavy shopping bags - and I can run over peoples toes!!

I got one too and get very mean with it as a weapon ... and its so much better for you physically than having to carry bags that pull your arm, shoulders.

I've got a couple of plastic 'bag for life' bags and they dont seem to hold up. I must use them too hard.

I've got a great canvas bag which is really tough and can be chucked in the wash when it gets dirty.

QuakerGranny has a selection of trollies (including one for best ) but the one I like most is soft sided and can be folded up. If you're one of those people who carry a large handbag or a small rucksack all the time it will easity fit in. I've also seen some bright coloured funky trollies on sale.

Welsh Girls Allotment wrote:On a bit of tangent but still bag releated, my council want us to sort out our recycling and bag it up for collection, seems reasonable enough but as I am holier than thou I use cloth bags - I pointed out to the council - yes I am sad enough to ring them up to query these things

I said that I do not have plastic bags I use home made cloth bags when I shop - so how do you want me to sort my recycling - in plastic bags said lady on the phone - but I've just told you I don't have any - she said everybody has plastic bags ???

It obviously wasn't getting through to her that not everybody has bags so now I have to 'borrow' bags from my neighbours to sort out my recycling

Where is the sense - I asked for extra recycling bins to enable me to sort my rubbish but they 'are unable to arrange that at this time'

Sooner they offer alternatives to plastic bags the better - why can't we have sturdy paper bags - they appear to be a better alternative

I had the same conversation with ours here in Colchester. I put my plastics out in a reusable recycling box and they left them, because they have to be bagged up! I try to avoid plastic bags as well. However, I do buy the loo rolls from Sainsburys in a huge plastic bag, so now I save those and stick the plastic bottles in there. Daft though. Nothing else has to be bagged up.

I have a jute BFL from t**** which I've had for over a year of major heavy use and it's still going strong. I also have an old laundry bag of my mum's (one of those plastic tartan things you used to see loads of) which is still going strong.

I think supermarkets should take a leaf from Lidl and Aldi's books, CHARGE FOR CARRIERS. honestly, it really does put people off.

i agree. carrier bags should definitely be charged for. it definitely makes you realise that you could probably fit more stuff in your pockets anyway. somebody wrote into our local paper re the bags for life that sainsburys were giving out the other week, and made a very valid point - since when have normal carrier bags not been reusable?

as it goes i work in one of those places that tries to put everything in a plastic bag,but i make a point of asking customers now. definitely makes them think twice.

Silver Ether wrote:

Milims wrote:I bought a shopping trolley recent'y [...]

I hate those things purely for the fact that round here there seems to be a trend for the "sholley" variety which has a wheel base which is nearly as large and my daughter's buggy- consequently if i get the bus at the wrong time all the *think of a nice word* elderly ladies on my normal bus route give me evil glares for having taken up "their" sholley space with-GOD FORBID- my sleeping or grumpy daughter. One was so angry with me once that she continually rammed the thing into my leg until I put my big jute shopping bag in the way- she was angry that I had already been sitting in the designated buggy/wheelchair space when she got on. she was in no way disabled, but she had a damned Sholley. I've even seen the same variety of Sholley user get annoyed with a lovely and very polite wheelchair user who lives in my old village.

the shopping trolleys which are fairly soft and have 2 wheels i have nothing against and think they are a fab idea. i just believe all Sholleys above that size should be banned from all bus routes.

Milims wrote:I bought a shopping trolley recent'y and it's the best thing I've ever done! It's a big funky orange thing and it holds loads! I've had a few funny looks but quite frankly I don't give a damn - not only is it infinately re-usable but also I'm not the one struggling to carry lots of heavy shopping bags - and I can run over peoples toes!!

I got one of those many years ago - about the time my youngest went to school and I couldn't get away with using the pushchair as a shopper (no baby in it - look like a bag lady). oddly enough now I'm a Grandmama - and would be expected to have one, the bag has given up - ah well frank evans I have my bike and scooter if I need to shop out of the village

I left soph with my mum yesterday to nip out to the corner shop (a BP garage **shudders**) to go and get milk as we'd run out. I was shocked at how much 6 pints of blue and 4 pints of green actually weighs! I normally sling it on the back of the buggy!!

I have the same problem - NEVER get plastic bags, always use a big jute one. But I need plastic bags to use for rubbish when we go away in the camper!
I get them from the office, where whoever shops for the tea/coffee/biscuits always gets one, and there is usually a drawerful to help myself from.
Trolleys and pushchairs on buses - now that rings a bell....

I love living where I am now, no need to use a bus to get into town and back. I only use them for visiting family and friends now.

we are also staggering distance from the train station so James is actually going to go to his work xmas pub thing tomorrow by getting the train to work and back instead of the car. I'll just have to make sure he has a reminder set on his phone to not miss the last tube from paddington lol!

Plastic is a huge problem - not just in terms of it being made from a finite resource (oil), or going into landfill, or choking wildlife, but in terms of its long-term effect on the entire planet.

There are huge floating islands of plastic the size of Europe in the world's oceans, but few people seem to give a damn. The plastic doesn't biodegrade, it simply gets smaller and smaller, finds its way into the food chain and eventually gets it us where it does very nasty things to the human body.

Scientists have found bits of plastic that can be traced back to World War 2 in these plastic islands. Plastics last in the environment for hundreds of years and carry all matter of toxins with them and within them.

So don't be taken in by the plastic bag versus paper bag propaganda put out by the plastic packaging industry. All plastics, including packaging and bags, will be out there polluting the environment for a long time.

I only just found this thread or I would have referred to it on my blog today. Earlier today I posted about Trashlantis found, and referred back to a much more detailed post on seaborne plastic pollution, Trashlantis - the kingdom of plastic. Read the second post in particular and then do something.

To be honest, I'm not surprised.

Zoe

And you know what gets me? People questioning whether plastic bags are in fact a big villain. Sigh.

I've got one of those wheeled trolley thingies. Since No3Child has come out of the buggy, I can't carry shopping for too far, so I got one off FreeCycle, and I love it. The other excellent thing is that all the kids want to pull it, so I don't have to do anything at all

You are so right, Stonehead. Scientists recently claimed that plastic bag's impact was low as only 0.3% of landfill is plastic bags. This is still 0.3% too much. There may be bigger villains in landfill but they all have to be dealt with to remove the blight that is landfill. Plastic bags are an easy target and will help to raise awareness in the public at large.

John