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this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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they did this in my area, except the chains retaliated by making their free disposable bags 'reusable' (re:thicker), which of course, no one ever does. the end result is the exact same problem only now worse because the bags take longer to decompose.
I bet you area goes to the cotton reusable at a few dollars each. Getting an extra percentage on your margin is huge for supermarkets even if it makes no environmental sense.
Around here it's unthinkable to go to the store without your own bags. Depending on my load I take a backpack, folding boxes of the same set of cloth bags that I've been using for 8 years. It's rare to se people buy a reusable plastic bag these days.
The sales in the supermarkets say different. Are you watching how many are sold each day?
UK households in average are using 57 a year. Someone is buying them.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/13/world/reusable-grocery-bags-cotton-plastic-scn/index.html
In 2018. Times have changed since then. The store that I frequent just doesn't sell bags anymore, not even reusable. They sell a foldable cartboerd box if you really need something to carry your groceries. Most people who shop there use foldable crates. Those who don't come by car use backpacks or those old lady shopping trolleys.
That is probably even worse. Cardboard is rarely recycled and also has a large environmental footprint. The stats are really saying otherwise particularly the profits the supermarket chains are making on this policy.
I just looked up the numbers for Belgium (where I live). A quick search so I only found some old data. Of the cardboard that is collected nearly 78% got recycled in 2012. I bet the figures are higher these days.
Yes of the cardboard that is recycled, 78% may end up as some new item. But I bet only 10% of actual cardboard actually ends up in recycling centers.
I don't know but most western European countries have high collection figures.