Here in the UK (maybe in other countries for all I know) most supermarkets offer something called ‘bag for life’. They are reusable plastic carrier bags made from recyclable material. The supermarkets called them ‘bags for life’ because, they say, when your bag wears out they’ll replace it free of charge.
I have lots of these. I have ‘proper’ shopping bags but often I either buy more than I have room for in the bags I have with me or I have the opportunity to go to a shop and don’t have bags. So I always opt for the 10 pence re-usable ‘bag for life’ rather than a throw-away freebie.
Yesterday I went to Tescos in Bletchley. I was offered a lift and had to go ‘right now this minute’ so a grabbed a few bags and went. One of the bags I had with me was a bag for life. A Sainsbury’s bag for life. At the check-out I started to fill it with my groceries and realised that the side seam had split. This bag had reached the end of its life. I told the check-out girl my bag was split and picked up a new one. She charged me for it. Okay, well, I was replacing a Sainsbury bag with a Tesco bag, so it wasn’t one of theirs I was replacing.
However, I then handed her the worn out bag and asked “do you have recycling facilities for these?”
to which she replied “no, not that I’m aware of” and put the bag under the check-out. I’m guessing it went into her bin and then to landfill, but I hope not. 
Tags: bag for life, recycling, Tesco
