Plastic bag free survey as statistics

Summary of our December 2008 survey (see the numerical answers in the entry below/ 4 January 2009). Here you can read the survey results as statistics.

• Most shoppers (81 per cent) at Highbury Barn would like the shops at Highbury Barn to stop giving out plastic bags for free.

Question 1 More than 100 towns in Britain have banned plastic bags - do you think that Highbury Barn should?
A) yes 81%
B) no10%
C) not really 3%
D) not ban but strongly discourage 5%
E) doesn’t really matter/not sure 2%

Question 2Do you use a re-usable bag when shopping?
A) yes 61%
B) No 8%
C) sometimes/usually19%
D) try to remember but forget 12%
E) not sure1%

Question 3 How much would you be willing to pay for a biodegradeable bag (eg, corn starch)? Answers between 6p - 15p.
A) 6p - 10p 34%
B) 10p 20%
C) 10p - 15p 28%
D) 15p 10%
E) 20p 2%
F) want them to be free 5%

Question 4 And how much would you be willing to pay for a re usable bag (eg, cloth)? Answers between 50p - £2.00.
A) 50p 9%
B) 50p - £1.00 25%
C) £1 -40%
D) £1.00 - £2.00 16%
E) £2.00 5%
F) want them to be free 3%
G) wouldn’t pay 1%
H) don’t know 1%

NEWINGTON GREEN COMPARISONS
During 2008 Newington Green was the first Islington borough to go plastic bag free. Their plastic bag free group, co-ordinated by Orlando Jopling, also did a survey (in spring 2008) which you can see on their blog here. We have compared the results (where the questions allowed us to).

The Newington Green blog has six relevant statistics that allow comparison.

Some are straightforward:
94% shoppers in Newington Green would support a ban on free plastic bags
81 % shoppers in Highbury Barn would support a ban on shops giving out free plastic bags.

Very few shoppers in Newington Green are prepared to pay £1 for a reusable bag.
Shoppers in Highbury Barn were more precise. A quarter (25 per cent) said that, for cloth bags the'd pay up to £1. Nearly half (40 per cent) said they'd pay around £1. And 16 per cent said they'd pay between £1-2. 16%. Highbury Barn shoppers seem much more willing than Newington Green shoppers to pay for reusable bags.

The other comparisons are more complex.

More than half (66 per cent) of Newington Green shoppers said they were prepared to pay for a bag. We didn’t put the question in that way to Highbury Barn shoppers. We broke the question down into types of bag. At Highbury Barn 94% said they were prepared to pay for a biodegradable bag. Even more (95%) said they were prepared to pay for a reusable bag.

Newington Green got the result that more than half (52%) would pay up to 5p for a reusable bag. But at Highbury Barn we asked the question: "How much would you be willing to pay for a biodegradeable bag (eg, corn starch)?" We found that: 34% said 6p-10p (the 6p-10p category is the nearest category our survey had to Newington Green's 5p choice) with the bulk of respondents happy to pay more than 6p.)

The survey statistics were pulled together by Plastic Bag Free Highbury Barn group member Neil Devlin.

100 Barn shoppers surveyed

More than 100 shoppers were asked what they thought about making Highbury Barn one of the 100 towns in Britain to go plastic bag free. Full results of the survey will be published at the end of January. Below are comments from some of the shoppers the note takers - Caroline, Cinzia, Neil and Nicola - spoke with on 13 and 20 December 2008.

'Good idea'

'Good idea'

'Information should be in shops - stickers in shop windows'

'Recycling bag info should be available'

'Made me think'

'There should be bins with bags in shop'

'Good idea'

'Good idea'

'Bring back brown paper bags'

'Stop them in supermarkets, charge for bags'

'Big shops should take the lead'

'Shops shouldn't give away bags and extra plastic packaging'

'Agree to get rid of them - stronger bags'

'Good to not use them - alternative ie paper bags'

'If no bags people will have to be resourceful'

'Focus on the environment - best if everybody does something'

'We don't really use them'

'Easy target (bags) Look at the other things'

'Cost issues - worried about the effects on shopkeepers'

'Shopkeepers should only give them out if asked'

'Would like them banned'

'The country should ban tham'

'You don't see them in Australia or South Africa'

'Discourage shops from automatically giving them'

'I don't agree with charging for bags'

'People should have to ask for a bag'

'They should do away with them'

'Very occassionally re-use bag'

'Ban plastic bags from big shops'

'Shopkeepers should ask'

'Big shops should take the lead'

'Like the idea of re-usable bags'

'Plastic bags are terrible'

'Shops should ask to make people think'

'Good idea'

'Think it's a good idea, feel guilty'

'Seen how bags without rubbish collection in the Middle East cause havoc (there was a description of them resembling a weather system- great drifts of plastic moving around)

'Very good idea'

'Needs to be at Government level' ( x2 )

'Agree in principle'

'Use the same bag over and over - education is important'

“It’s a small step. Don’t make it tyrannical. There are bigger issues.@

Nice paper bags? With sturdy handle? Could re-use.

“Need to educate people. People don’t know how long plastic takes to rot down. Before 1940s people used shopping baskets.We’ve created the idea that plastic is essential. It never used to be. How about having a bin where you can share plastic bags, so if you forget your bag when you go shopping you can reuse one. The supermarkets set the precedent. It’s very complex.”

“I’d like a plastic bag free Highbury Barn.”

“Somethings you’ve got to do.”

“My mum would be thrilled if Highbury Barn went plastic bag free.”

“If you want to ban bags need a place to drop the bags we all hoard (to get rid of them, or recycle them).”

“It’s a good idea. I got my cloth bag from Fromagerie.”

“I recycle anyway. I only put things in the bin that can’t be recycled. I use plastic bags for rubbish bags.”
“All supermarkets should be made to stop giving out plastic bags.”
“Highbury Barn is almost plastic bag free. There’s cloth bags at Da Mario and the butcher and the cheese shop. But it is up to individuals.”

“Want shops to charge for bags”

“Supermarkets shouldn’t give them out.”

“How recyclable is recyclable?”

“I support a plastic bag free Highbury Barn” (4 different people)

Traders like you using their bags with their logo, but they don’t like you bringing in an unmarked bag. “They can view the latter with suspicion: they think an unmarked bag allows the customer to nick stuff and then pass it off as their own.”