Stop moaning about paying for plastic bags

You’ll pay over £300 for a bus pass from Arriva but not 5p to ship your bread back from Asda?

We are the last country to start charging and it’s taken much longer than it should have. Not only does using billions of plastic bags contribute to the huge numbers of waste accumulating here and overseas, the bags also litter our streets and coasts, causing harm to urban wildlife and their marine counterparts too.

But, of course, living such a difficult life being well educated and so poor, we students are well within our rights to complain about the costs. Five pennies. It costs you FIVE PENNIES. Look at it as a good opportunity to get rid of all those coppers you’ve been carrying around when you got too much bronze from Chester’s. You may not have had it drilled into you by mummy to reuse your plastic bags, but that doesn’t stop you from adapting. Soon, it’ll be second nature, even when trolling down Aldi, nursing a severe hangover and alone that you will automatically remember your bag for life, or even a backpack.

boyfriend’s aren’t for life, bags are

The numbers speak for themselves. This July, the BBC wrote that figures showed “The number of single-use plastic bags handed out by UK supermarkets has increased for the fifth year running to 8.5bn. The number is up by 200m on 2013 despite the average household already having 40 plastic bags stashed away, research from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found.” Charging 5p is barely going to solve the problem though, as the alternatives are still not that environmentally friendly. Bags for Life are comprised of plastics joined together synthetically in a factory, meaning the use of polluting chemicals in the process.  Although they’ll help you carry litres of vodka back from Smithdown ASDA, bags for life won’t help us live any longer.

Sadly, it’s not even all bags that are included – plastic bags received at airports, on trains, planes or ships will not be included, alongside paper bags. Come on Cameron. If you’re going to do it, do it properly like it’s a pig. Both the length of time taken to start this law and the loopholes which exist in it just emphasise the lack of care our governments really have for the environment.

Some students aren’t too picky though. Katie, a second year English and Communications student told us, “I really don’t think it’s an issue if it’s doing something good. Paying 5p isn’t going to change your life. Basically, I agree with it and people need to stop being stingy.”

If that wasn’t enough to convince you to stop moaning, bear in mind that that 5p (surprisingly) doesn’t go to the government, it goes back into the supermarket or to charity. Yes, you can pick up your jaws, the government aren’t taking something from us – ASDA, Iceland and Morrisons have all pledged to donate the money to developing a world-class dementia research centre at UCL. So have Waitrose, if they even exist in Merseyside. Sainsburys told the Guardian that stores would be able to choose local causes to donate to, while Marks & Spencer said money received would be shared between local charities and a selection of national groups. If you’re going to complain about loss of funds in your life, redirect your complaints to whoever decided to charge £9000 for a year of uni.

So, buy a bag for life, a bring your backpack, or a get a granny trolly. Whatever you do to avoid paying that 5p, just stop being a whinge and shut the hell up about how difficult it is. Otherwise you could just pretend you’re a caveman and carry a loaf of bread with your bare hands, if that’s not too difficult.