Perry Barr Shoppers Support ASDA Bags for Life

• Jun. 3 by Bianca Eglinton (0)

In a recent poll of ASDA shoppers at Perry Barr’s One Stop shopping centre, we found that the ASDA bag for life scheme was going down quite well.

The scheme has been running for the past few months and is part of the ASDA pledge to send zero wast to landfill by 2010. It means that shoppers are no longer able to take an unlimited number of plastic carrier bags but must buy a Bag for Life, costing 5p per bag, in the hope of encouraging people to re-use them. There are also carrier bag recycling facilities in all ASDA stores, as another attempt to cut down the amount of bags being sent to landfill.

ASDA customers’ carrier bag usage stood at 2.2 billion per year according to figures from 2007 on the ASDA website. The scheme aims to reduce this by about 15%.

There is no doubting the good intentions of this scheme in looking after the environment. However, we wanted to know what the average shopper thought of the scheme and whether or not they felt that it was helping the environment or just plain annoying. See the audio slide-show for the full responses.

Many of the people asked said that they do manage to re-use their bags and that the scheme is beneficial to the environment as, without it, they would be using the small carrier bags and throwing them away. However, some shoppers expressed a concern in having to pay for them and said that it’s relatively annoying if they forget them because then they end up with more than they need or have to make-do without.

On the whole, most people agreed that the ASDA Bag for Life scheme is a positive step towards reducing their carbon footprint and in encouraging them to re-use and recycle their bags.