plastic bags

[weg]

OK I've made some attempts to use only reusable bags when shopping but found myself on 'good' weeks scrounging for old plastic bags to put my kitchen garbage in.

I admit I even bought a packet of garbage bags once - the smaller size which I never normally buy - because I did not want to throw garbage straight into the big bin even though I know it defeats the purpose of having the reusables in the first place.

Our big bin is actually partitioned in halves and I fill the recycling half each week so it's not as if I don't make any effort.

So how does everyone here dispose of their household garbage now and how would you if you bag now but stopped because you refused to pay for the new $1 bags.

Some ideas generally from Mr. 'this PM actually cares' Rudd who probably hasn't touched garbage or shopping in years would have been good since he seems so in touch with everything. Perhaps the funds from the $ bags will be redirected to the carers ??

 

[Ausprop]

same as we did before plastic bags. not sure what that was but i think a combination of wraping in news paper and paper bags?

why is landfill such a big problem? we aren't running out of space any time soon. just thought i would ask the question...

 

[Dis]

We (wife and I) use about 2 plastic bags a week on garbage.
- generally buy fresh produce so very little packaging
- most packaging recycled
- food thrown in the worm farm
- non food garbabge tipped straight in the bin (no bag needed)

We do use the shopping bags (get a couple each week) to line the bins but it wouldnt kill us to buy a few bin liners.

 

[kathryn d]

Why do you need to pay $1 for a bag?

I'm a bit confused. They make you use certain bags?

Here we can only put recyclables in blue or clear bags.
Regular garbage in anything other.

 

[Perp]

Why do you need to pay $1 for a bag?

The Govt is considering introducing a compulsory 25c-$1 charge to people who use plastic bags at the supermarket, to encourage use of cloth or other bags instead. I think it's a great idea; it sure would help those of us who've bought green bags but forget to take them. I know if I had to pay a few bucks every time I forgot, my memory would rapidly improve

So how does everyone here dispose of their household garbage now and how would you if you bag now but stopped because you refused to pay for the new $1 bags.

We do use the shopping bags (get a couple each week) to line the bins but it wouldnt kill us to buy a few bin liners.

same as we did before plastic bags. not sure what that was but i think a combination of wraping in news paper and paper bags?

What they said!

why is landfill such a big problem? we aren't running out of space any time soon. just thought i would ask the question...

I'm guessing that most people would prefer our desert (which is I assume the ample free space you're referring to) remain desert rather than a rubbish dump. Go figure!

Even more significantly, the environmental cost of moving all the rubbish away from urban areas would be HUGE. So it has to stay close to where it's collected, and most of us don't like living amidst our garbage. We humans are funny that way.

 

[kathryn d]

Thanks Tracy.
Will that be Australia wide or only in certain parts?

Here, one supermarket actually gives you 5c off the bill for every bag we take to the store.

 

[Perp]

Will that be Australia wide or only in certain parts?

The plan is Australia-wide. This would actually have to be implemented via state legislation, so the Fed Govt is negotiating with all the state governments, who seem supportive at least in principle, though the amount will have to be negotiated. I don't think the Fed Govt would consider having different rules in different states; I believe it's only a goer if they can get the states to agree to uniform nation-wide implementation.

 

[depreciator]

Chooks.

Great way to cut down on garbage - all food scraps (even the unidentifiable stuff from the back of the fridge) goes to the chooks.

As an aside, I read somewhere the other day that those green bags (which are made from a type of plastic) use the equivalent plastic of 1,000 disposable bags to make. Not sure if that's true.

Scott

 

[Brenda Irwin]

So if they charge $1 per plastic bag, just make sure you buy a pack of plastic bags first, (get the 20 for $2 ones) then pack the rest of the groceries into the newly purchased bags. Loads cheaper.

 

[wylie]

My understanding is that the green bags are made from the same type of stuff as chux cloths, ie. sourced from paper, maybe with other things added. It would be interesting to know, but I cannot fathom how 1000 plastic bags into one green bag could be anywhere near the truth.

I take my green bags all the time, and I avoid plastic bags, but every few months I leave them at home because I run out of plastic bags for the garbage. We use probably two or three plastic bags a week for our kitchen garbage.

My biggest issue is the amount of packaging that comes with everything. Added to the weekend papers and the reams of advertising that comes through the letterbox (which I am loath to not get, because there are some good offers there) our recycling bin is chockers by the fortnight's end.

It amazes me that if I pop into the local corner type shop to get something, people will buy one thing and still take a plastic bag. We all need to think more about what we do.

 

[Pushka]

Chooks
Great way to cut down on garbage - all food scraps (even the unidentifiable stuff from the back of the fridge) goes to the chooks..

Not allowed to have chooks in our council.

As an aside, I read somewhere the other day that those green bags (which are made from a type of plastic) use the equivalent plastic of 1,000 disposable bags to make. Not sure if that's true.

I think I have read something similar too. But maybe trees? Well, that makes it ok then!
And those fancy new light bulbs contain mercury and cant be put into landfill. So where, exactly, should they be disposed of? They are supposed to last 8 times longer than incandescent - well, ours dont! Back to the cheapies for me.

Bunnings charges for paper bags too!

 

[Perp]

OK, I've done a wee bit of research. In summary, the polypropylene bags like the Coles/Woollies green bags are not terribly environmentally friendly to produce - they are plastic and have very similar environmental impact to the normal plastic bag in production - BUT the fact that they're used so many times means they have a much lower life cycle environmental impact than regular plastic bags. And they can be recycled when they wear out. The Age did an informative article on this issue.

The most environmentally friendly packaging (over the life cycle) were found to be those woven HDPE bags, like the ones you get at Ikea. (Another reason to love Ikea )

And yes, CF lightbulbs contain tiny amounts of mercury, but not so much that you can't dispose of them in your regular rubbish. Environmentally the world ends up WAY in front by using CF lightbulbs and putting them in landfill, than by using incandescents.

Not sure why you're having trouble, Pushka, but many studies have shown that CF lightbulbs last on average at least 10 times longer than incandescents, and these days you can pick up CFs for $2 each if you shop around. And the cost of incandescent lifebulbs may be lower, but this cost is dwarfed by the much higher amount of electricity consumed. I had replaced our whole house (except the dimmers in the living room) in 2002, and only recently had the first CF fail. I recently replaced the dimmers, too, with new dimmable CFs (not cheap, nearly $25 per bulb), but I love the quality of light they give (I bought "warm" ones), and whilst I was replacing an incandescent every week, the 8 CFs have been going for 4 months without a failure.

You are absolutely positively better off both environmentally AND economically using CF lightbulbs.

 

[Pushka]

Hm, ok, we have been told here not to put the new light globes into the rubbish bin. We have a problem with lights blowing here, even incandescent ones, but at 50cents they are much cheaper to replace than the average cost of $4 of the CF ones (from Coles).

The electrician has tested all our circuits and hasnt found a problem; he did say, not to use the cheap generic brand of ANY type of light bulb because the cheaper ones do not have an internal fuse; if they blow then the cheap ones will explode - and this means that sometimes the internal globe mechanism cannot be removed from the actual light fitting (which is why we had to call him in the first place - it actually blew a hole in our light fitting!) The branded globes (eg Phillips) have an internal fuse which takes the impact when the globe blows.

Am I the only one who doesnt like the type of light the new globes give out?

 

[Perp]

Am I the only one who doesnt like the type of light the new globes give out?

I'm a migraine sufferer and generally find fluorescent lighting very harsh; supermarkets and many office environments are "no go" zones for me. But the "warm white" CFs emit light with the same qualities as incandescent lights, and don't flicker. My cheap-as-chips "warm white" CFs provide very comfortable light, and last for ages.

I'm not denying your experience, Pushka, I just don't want any other forumites who haven't made the switch to be put off by gaining the impression left that using CFs is inherently problematic.

 

[s_t]

We use our supermarket bags in our small kitchen bin. If they introduce this nonsense it will simply mean we have to buy bags for the bin, and more (the re-useable ones) for shopping......
Since when are dumps in the desert? From what I've seen they are usually in outer suburbs, and when full/finished get converted into parks or football fields.....

 

[dave99]

Am I the only one who doesnt like the type of light the new globes give out?

I too hate the whiteness of the standard CF bulbs from the supermarket. I found that you can buy CFs from Ikea which have a frosted plastic "globe" over the element. It makes the light yellow rather than white, MUCH nicer!

 

[Pushka]

Hi Dave, I get frustrated with IKEA and their globes, because they only sell 'screwies' and all of our fittings are bayonet!

 

[sparky23]

Well since I lost my job a few weeks back we have been doing the fortnightly shop at Aldis, aswell as saving an enormous amount of money - I would say in the region of $100 each shop we also had to buy the shopping bags, I think they were 15 cents each. They are far stronger than the usual plastic shopping bags and I think we shall be able to re-use them for several months. Now that I have done it a few times I am happy to continue, it just takes a bit of remembering to take the bags with us when we shop.

As an aside I have also found the quality of the food to be really good, especially the fresh produce which I wasn't really expecting, if anything superior to Woolworths where we have been shopping since forever. The selection may not be enough for some people but we haven't had to go anywhere to do a top up shop as I had expected initially.

 

[nedder08]

As concerned to disposal of garbage, I usually use polythene bags available at house which I get with purchased items or else purchase new one.
I found an Hillary’ous video ..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7150u9sfCo.

 

[Tizzy]

I understood that the supermarket carry bags would be phased out but we can still buy the large rubbish bags as before. If you don't want to use any plastic, then you wrap stuff in newspaper. Thing is, if you get to that point, you really need to start looking at composting.