The Rise and Fall of the Plastic Bag

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,890
2,143
Mercia
Just get two Vulcans,

Okay, got two Vulcans....its seems to be a lot of fuel for shopping, but what do I do now?

nzvulcan2.jpg
 

Midnitehound

Silver Trader
Jun 8, 2011
2,121
30
AREA 51
You want to carry your shopping in a Start Trek character?

Hey, two Vulcan females, one for the front and one for the back and they can carry the shopping. Don't knock it till you've tried it. Ha, I though that would make your ears *****!
 
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Midnitehound

Silver Trader
Jun 8, 2011
2,121
30
AREA 51
I get a female walking behind of course....but in front????

Vulcan_Female_Big.jpg

Hubba hubba, makes me want to take up LARPing.

The one with the nice rear goes at the front and the other brings up the rear! That way you get a warning of punji sticks and dead fall traps. If she falls over a cliff then she can Klingon! And of course when it comes to wild animals, you don't need to be a fast runner, just faster than the Vulcan behind you! It is only logical. As for mid-air refueling of Vulcans, I think you have to be a mile high for that!

Is it only me or is the flash of a Vulcan's underbelly slightly erotic?

What line?
 
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rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
28
70
south wales
Jolene Blalock is certainly 'ding dong' in my books :)

jolene-blalock.jpg


Vacuum sealers are popular with some of us here but they waste a lot of plastic too.
 

Midnitehound

Silver Trader
Jun 8, 2011
2,121
30
AREA 51
Jolene Blalock is certainly 'ding dong' in my books :)

jolene-blalock.jpg


Vacuum sealers are popular with some of us here but they waste a lot of plastic too.

I don't think she has been vacuum sealed, I think it is just a very well tailored uniform! Or is that not what you meant? ;)

I'm not sure of the merits of vacuum sealing dog poop either unless of course you DO DO want to keep it!
 
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santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,120
68
Florida
You don't see cling wrapped meat any more really. Most supermarket meat comes in gas flushed /MAP (Modified Atmosphere Packing) containers which give a longer shelf life but I have noticed Tesco selling some meat which is vacuum packed these days.....

Some supermarkets here are switching towards the vacuum wrapped packages (cryovac) here as well. But as of now, the majority is still wrapped in the Cling wrap on the aforementioned styro trays.
 

wingstoo

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
May 12, 2005
2,274
40
South Marches
As a hippy that has come to west wales to die, the standard bit of kit for shopping on monthly basis is a mitsubishi fourtrac with bread crates. For true hippies we have company called suma that delivers to local cooperatives pulses and various types of flour in bulk quantites. You can buy a whole years worth of lentils and soya beans in one go.

I think I could probably buy enough in one go for a life time, or more likely two or three life times and still have enough left to feed my family for another three generations...

smileyvault-puke.gif


:240:
 

rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
28
70
south wales
Cryovac is not new, been around thirty plus years, certainly from my first jobs in supermarkets, common enough practise certainly in the UK for big lumps of meat prior to the breaking down for the consumer into manageable pieces .

Cling wrap styrofoam is well behind the times to be honest certainly in the UK. The USA is no longer the 'world leader' it was and is playing catchup in many ways to Europe.
 

Midnitehound

Silver Trader
Jun 8, 2011
2,121
30
AREA 51
Where do you get that one from?

Oh, you've not been following the Thunderbolts Project on Youtube have you?

Copernicus and Galileo eat your heart out, Ptolemy is dead! Everything is about to change, the Earth is no longer the centre of the Universe. Everything we thought we knew, we didn't.
 
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santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,120
68
Florida
Cryovac is not new, been around thirty plus years, certainly from my first jobs in supermarkets, common enough practise certainly in the UK for big lumps of meat prior to the breaking down for the consumer into manageable pieces .

Cling wrap styrofoam is well behind the times to be honest certainly in the UK. The USA is no longer the 'world leader' it was and is playing catchup in many ways to Europe.

Oh you're perfectly correct that it's been around for decades for shipping to the supermarket (here as well) But only in the last five years or so have the meat packers been cryovacing packages in sizes that can simply be placed into the coolers for direct sales (without said "breaking down") It's been used a little longer if shopping in the warehouse stores for bulk buys.

TBH I don't think they thought the consumers would accept the idea at first, but now the stores like the prepackaged cryopacs better for two reasons:
1. They can eliminate the cost associated with an on site meat cutter
2. By buying prepacked from the supplier and never actually handling the meats themselves, they insulate themselves from liability to lawsuits over contaminated goods.
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,890
2,143
Mercia
The Independant is quoting the same report as you, the report that assumed an average of 51 uses. The key word there is "assumed". You won't find a report that gives you an accurate mean re-use unless someone is willing to give out thousands of bags and have people tally the numbers of times they use them. Otherwise you'd be basing your results on surveys outside supermarkets where people have to estimate the amount of times they've used their bags. If this was feasible then the I like to think the Environment Agency would have conducted such research instead of relying on assumed results.
.

I agree - the research that exists is spotty. Such research as does exist also points to most alternatives to disposable carrier bags being more environmentally damaging in the long term. So - on that we agree.

Is scanty evidence that points to a new law being environmentally damaging a reason to pass that law? I think not.

I have yet to see anyone point to a single, solitary piece of evidence based research that shows a benefit of the 5p charge. There are however reports (though incomplete) that points to the opposite being the case.

That seems to me sufficient reason to oppose a new law until some rational, evidence based justification for it can be found. Laws should be based on logic and facts, not gut feel and knee jerks.
 

daveO

Native
Jun 22, 2009
1,459
525
South Wales
The evidence based success of the 5p levy is shown by sales of bags in shops. Less bags sold = less bags sent to landfill or littered. Liek you said though that is pretty scanty evidence at best.

What I don't like is that the law was brought in for Ireland and Wales and has been hailed as a success based purely on the amount of plastic bags bought at supermarkets. While that makes great headline figures I haven't seen any figures on comparitive sales for other products like bin liners and pet waste bags to see if those have risen sharply which you would think would be crucial to the experiment. Whilst I'm all for reusable bags I think this should have been dealt with in a more thorough manner.
 

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