Plastic shopping bag

A German plastic shopping bag, before use (left) and after use (right)

Plastic shopping bags, carrier bags, or plastic grocery bags are a type of plastic bag used as shopping bags and made from various kinds of plastic. In use by consumers worldwide since the 1960s,[1] these bags are sometimes called single-use bags, referring to carrying items from a store to a home. However, it is rare for bags to be worn out after single use and in the past some retailers (like Tesco and Sainsbury's in the UK) incentivised customers to reuse 'single use' bags by offering loyalty points to those doing so.[2][3] Even after they are no longer used for shopping, reuse of these bags for storage or trash is common, and modern plastic shopping bags are increasingly recyclable[4] or compostable - at the Co-op for example.[5] In recent decades, numerous countries have introduced legislation restricting the provision of plastic bags, in a bid to reduce littering and plastic pollution.[6][7][8][9]

Some reusable shopping bags[10] are made of plastic film, fibers, or fabric.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference European Plastics News was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Tesco scraps club card loyalty point bonuses for 'bags for life' after 5p charge for carriers - Mirror Online". Daily Mirror. 10 October 2015. Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  3. ^ "Sainsbury's to stop Nectar points for bag reuse". Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  4. ^ "Carrier bags | Recycle Now". Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  5. ^ "Co-op rolls out 100% compostable bags across all stores | Co-op Blog". Archived from the original on 2021-06-24. Retrieved 2021-06-19.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference ChinaBan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Scott Sincoff (1 July 2012). "Los Angeles City Council OKs Plastic Bag Ban". ENN. Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  8. ^ "A short history of plastic bag laws in California". Plastic Bag Laws Organisation. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  9. ^ "Mauritania bans plastic bag use". BBC. 2 January 2013. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  10. ^ "Custom reusable shopping bags Wholesale, Reusable Plastic Bags". Plastic Bag Source. Archived from the original on 2019-06-23. Retrieved 2017-10-02.

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