A bag made of a thin, flexible plastic material, especially one with handles supplied by a shop to carry goods purchased there.
shoppers now pay 10p to buy a plastic bag at supermarkets
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Almost 450 million shoppers across the enlarged European Union may soon have to pay the 15 cent plastic bag levy.
The big advantage of plastic bags in supermarkets is that customers can be raced through the checkouts very quickly.
At the check-out the attendant politely asked the customer if she required a plastic bag for the milk.
Every time you shop you will have to decide whether you will need a plastic bag or not.
Australians are being challenged to say 'No' when offered a plastic bag this weekend.
Often this plastic bag is used to carry a single item from a shop to a car only a few yards away.
'The most efficient recycling of all is re-use—taking a plastic bag back to the shop and refilling it, instead of using a new one,' the report says.
Anyone with a family doing a large shop can expect to have between 20 and 30 plastic bags full of shopping.
I am mindful not to waste water, and I am conscientious about recycling, but I refuse to give up the plastic bag at my supermarket checkout.
Los Angeles has become the largest city in the United States to ban the use of plastic bags in supermarkets.
Wouldn't a 5p 'tax' on every supermarket plastic bag make us all a little bit more serious about recycling?
In assessing alternatives to plastic bags, grocery retailers take into account consumers' attitudes in the way they shop.
I shop at an organic shop and always say I don't need a plastic bag, which sometimes gets a wintery smile out of the assistants who work there.
There weren't even plastic bags in Australian supermarket checkouts back then.
The middle-aged housewife lugging her food shopping in a white plastic bag had a lot to say about her worries for her three grown-up children living here.
The survey also found that about 17 billion plastic bags are handed out each year by the nine main supermarkets.
The shop owner went after him and put two big tomatoes in his plastic bag.
Many shops automatically pack single items into an unnecessary plastic bag.
I left the shop with only that rather cheap catalogue, and a posh blue plastic bag with silver lettering to keep it dry.
One thing I do intend to do is to ask shop assistants not to give me plastic bags whenever possible.
If you're out shopping and find that the handles on plastic bags are just too flimsy to carry around the mall for hours, consider canvas tote bags as a way to carry your purchases.