Having recently written an environmental news post about the changes within Asda supermarkets, I was contacted by Asda’s Head of Corporation and News Media, Dominic Burch.
Calling him to discuss the matter, I was told he was in a meeting and would give me a call back. In the meantime I went to confirm my earlier article with photographic evidence.
The plans to charge customers 10p per bag are, as stated, only to incur if a 50% cut in bag use is not achieve by the end of 2009. But with bag use already restricted at tills – what plans and alternatives are going to be offered to persuade customers not to use the bags?
Of course I want to see plastic bags being restricted, infact I would like to see them being rid of all together – so perhaps the charges should be welcomed. Bags for Life have had a prominent position in most UK superstores, and have been fairly successful.
As noted in the comments to my original post, most other Eurpeoan countries do charge for their carriers bags, so why arent we?
So why when I wrote a piece on Asda charging for bags has Dominic contacted me? Surely they are promoting a more environmental way of living? I somehow doubt Dominic’s response will be one of praise, but I will await his call and keep you updated.
Nice work taking the pictures, looking forward to see what Dominic has to say.
Love the new layout btw. Following up on your current wind turbine obsession
I know.. starting to get a bit over the top I think!!
Oh and thanks!!
moring and apologies for not getting back to you after my meeting. We are still getting to grips with our new you tube channel. Anyway, it looks like the store you’ve featured has created its own signs and notices to try and encourage customers to reuse carrier bags and switch to bags for life. Whilst laudable and well intentioned, they are not in line with our company policy as we are still working hard to ensure that the threat of a Government levy doesn’t come to pass. We would rather encourage people to chnage the habit of a lifetime than hit them further in the pocket at a time when many are feeling the pinch. As ever it will hit the poorest hardest. Adding and extra £1 to the grocery bill will mean people leave something else out of the basket. We’re picking up with the store today to see what else they’ve produced. But thanks for pointing it out. Dom
Hi Dom,
I can see what the store were trying to do and completely agree that shoppers do need to change their habits when it comes to carrier bags.
The 50% target seemed relatively high when the number of bags are already restricted – but I was more interested in what tactics were going to be employed to reach the target.
Thanks for getting back to me.
Georgie
Having been following other carrier bags news and it would seem Asda are not alone.
Although not reaching as high at 10p per bag, the popular and somewhat “upper class” supermarket appears to be holding nothing back when introducing the charges.
Visit http://bit.ly/ETrBw for the full story.
I am completely in favour of charging for plastic bags. I usually shop at discount grocers that have been charging for bags for years now (not for environmental reasons though) and I’ve been using reusable canvas bags for about 4 years.
The canvas bags are getting more popular, but I still scratch my head (and seethe a little) when I see someone using plastic bags. Why the resistance? I just don’t get it.
I am just outside of Toronto, Canada. Coming this June, all retailers, not just grocery stores, must charge 5 cents a bag.
Grocery stores are hoping to see a 70% reduction in the plastic bags by 2012.
Thanks for the comment Lyndsey.. I do think we will see a drop in bag use if charges are introduced, it just seemed to cause a bit of uproar when I revealed the “plans” to charge in certain supermarkets.
Some other tactics have been employed in both the supermarket mentioned, and other stores around my home town – such as bag restrictions or even handles appearing on the actual goods themselves. I think this is a better way to reduce the number of bags, rather than hitting peoples pockets (particularly during the credit crunch) but do think it will have more effect. As Dom Burch pointed out – people may put fewer items in their baskets if they are forced to buy bags.
Handles on certain items is a good idea! I’ve never seen that!
Free reusable bags would help during the credit crunch. Or even if they were half the price, maybe that would encourage more people to use them.
Here, the reusable bags are about $1 each (and they hold about 3 times as much groceries as a plastic bag. All you really need are 2-4 of them, depending on how much you buy.) and the plastic grocery bags are 5 cents. How do the two kinds of bags compare where you are?
I don’t know that paying for bags will really cause people to buy less… I mean, it’s food after all, and people need to buy it!
Free reuseable bags would certainly be a step forward – even if only for a couple of months to get the ball rolling.
Most reusable bags are really cheap here – about 10p on average, and like you say that are a lot stronger than the normal plastic bags, as so much has been done in the past to make them more degradeable.
I think its the inconvenience that deters use.. people will have to actively remember the bags in the first place.
But as you say – people do need food, and by the looks of it, these charges will eventually come into place so why not now?
just a quick update to say that we have been giving away free bags for life for the last week or so as you suggested. We’re hopeful it will help more people change the habit of a lifetime. The free bag give away ends this weekend.
Pingback: Local Asda store continues battle against carrier bag waste « The Environment