Blog: Curing our addiction to free plastic shopping bags

Blog: How on earth did anyone ever manage before carrier bags? asks Emma Suddaby.

I've spent the last decade or so cursing the flimsy, leaky, fundamentally inadequate things – if they're not breaking or splitting then the handles are biting into my fingers – not to mention the small matter of ruining the planet by being unbiodegradable…

We all knew that our national carrier bag addiction had to stop, but it's only now that Wales has bitten the bullet and slapped a minimum 5p charge on each one, I realise how much I love them!

But it also highlights just how ingrained the carrier bag habit has become. I mean, I use them for everything and have got used to having a little stash to hand at all times.

So remembering to take my own shopping bags to the shop has been a lot more miss than hit this past week, and I've had to remind myself that once upon a time, no-one had heard of carrier bags and the world kept on turning.

The trouble is our inherent laziness – and before widespread outrage breaks out, I'm not limiting this sweeping generalisation to us Brits. Let's face it, it's a global problem caused by international apathy and unless more of the planet's population take decisive action, it's one that will choke us eventually.

How fitting to be slowly suffocated by the plastic menace we just could not let go of.

So despite the kerfuffle of cursing every time I arrive, inevitably bag-less, at a till, I applaud the Welsh Assembly's decision to go ahead with a 5p charge way before David Cameron has had the guts to enforce a similar minimum charge throughout the rest of Britain.

He spends a lot of time talking about the problem, wagging his finger at the various superstore giants currently monopolising our high streets, but has yet to show the courage of his convictions by enforcing an outright ban on free bags.

And let's be honest, until they start costing us money, not many of us are so virtuous or efficient that we will kick the carrier habit by choice. It's about time Mr Cameron stopped doing a little dance around the issue and put his Prime Ministerial foot down.

Of course, there's always an up side, and the silver lining for me is that I now have a perfectly legitimate excuse to go bag shopping! This calls for a whole new range of bags that can accommodate the plentiful contents of my handbag, plus my daily shopping.

Now that sounds like a problem I was made for solving!