Plastic shopping bags

12/07/2010 - 12:47

Can anybody confirm that as of January 1st 2011, it will be actually illegal for shops to provide plastic bags for you to carry your shopping home? Thanks in advance, S

Comment

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/italy-bans-plastic-shopping-bags

http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/italy-bans-plastic-shopping-bags Beat me Alan!!

You two are quick on the keyboard! grazie S

Yes, it's true. I regard this as a nuisance as I don't have a car.

Get yourself one of those small and very pretty shopping trolleys, Patz. The smart way to shop!!! They are becoming fashionable, even in the USA where everyone has a car to go shopping. I bought myself a very pretty one and people used to stop me to ask where I bought it. Easier to carry your shopping that way and there are models that have three wheels on each side so that you can go up the stairs without difficulty.

This is good legislation. In Ireland there has been a 22c charge on every bag for some time. The economic cost makes us remember that there is an environmental cost and use of poly bags has plunged. With 15 to 1000 years degrade time on poly bags for a product used for 30 minutes, there has to be more balance Even if we shop on foot we can all put a reusable bag in our pockets and Biodegradable bags will still be available

Blue Ikea Bag, ideal....

i've been wondering about this for age......What do we then use as rubbish bags?

Your local supermarket has a plentiful supply of Cardboard boxes,use them to put your rubbish in then of to the communal bins. Cardboard/paper is easier to recycle and if you have to use plastic bags then, most supermarkets sell bin bags.....

The problem with these bags is that they are not very strong and cannot be safely used as carry bags. Do not put much weight in them.

Great initiative! Well done Italy. We’ve been paying for plastic bags for over 10 years now. A shop assistant here will never just offer you one either, you have to ask for it.

The cut off date for plastic bags has just been prorogued to 1 Jan 2012 to allow shops the time to get rid of the old style bag stock --- as usual, one step forward and two steps back.

So Italian shops keep more than a year's supply of carrier bags in their store-rooms? I wonder if this change might not have more to do with the people who make the bags. Does Mr B's empire include a plastic carrier bag factory? Al

..............but I like it !! S

http://www.france24.com/en/20101230-plastic-bags-outlawed-italy-january-1 http://www.plasticstoday.com/blogs/new-year-new-plastic-bag-ban http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12097605

Never mind plastic bags...how about supermarkets reducing the ammount of plastic containers they seem to use for everything. You can't by cheese, veg, meat or fish without the stuff being encased in clear plastic boxes..

I agree with Flip. Not only in Italy, but everywhere. It is a terrible waste. At least, Esselunga at Ponte a Moriano has a container to deposit old plastic cases... Only problem, you have to remember taking them with you when you go shopping....

The Grauniad reported with glee that many Italians' principle concern was that taking a shopping bag shopping isn't very stylish. Although quite how lugging free plastic carriers around is any more or less groovy is a matter for debate… Apparently a small boom is expected in the sales of 'cool' shopping bags in fake animal prints. That's cool as in literally. It seems that you can now source a leopard-print shopper that contains a special inner compartment for frozen goods. Big cat, little gateau. The whole idea is so ridicuously 1983 that it's sure to catch on. I shall be tiger-print hunting on the streets of Civitanova from now on, although down here the fur is quite likely to be real. Retailers are anticipating a roaring trade, said a spokesperson for the local market, spuriously. I popped into a local boutique myself only yesterday and asked to look at the fine big cat-style trolley on wheels hanging behind the counter. But the assistant said she wouldn't take that lion down. She wasn't feline up to it. I was furrious and pelted her with insults. Etc…

As Tom Jones used to say...........ho ho ho ho ho ho! S

Perhaps shops are using up their stock or perhaps it is the Neapolitan way of things. But, down here in Naples, bags are (so far) very much still available in the shops I have been to over the last couple of days.

Likewise here............... S

but if they are using old style plastic bags it is now illegal to charge you for them - they must be free.... you pay for biodegradable ones and then watch your shopping fall out the bottom.

coseperlacasa.....funniest post I have probably ever read on this forum!, now off to hunt for my Sainsburys boxes.

I can't believe this no plastic bag policy will work- how on earth will the Italians be able to dump their litter in the countyside without the ubiquitous "euorospin carrier bag"?? Mind you round our way all sorts of fly tipping is rife- old tyres and asbestos sheets in particular, oh! and car batteries too. The other day someone dumped a gigantic CRO TV a few yards from our house.. I dutifully collected it with the intention of it disposing it safely , but all the big skips had disappeared and eventually I had to leave the bugger next to a small wheeie bin, deflated and defeated I retraced my steps up our litter strewn lane. Italy has a long way to go before it fully complies with EU waste disposal initiatives, personally I reckon a few big waste to power incinerators would be the least worse option!!