Even in the 1990s and the 2000s, before reusable bags became widely available, we used to reuse our single use bags. We would empty our shopping and then reuse the bags several times as house rubbish bin liners, until they became too smelly to continue, haha! They then went in the domestic rubbish, not in rivers, fields, etc. That was in the UK.
From 2004, we observed at first hand what French countryside people did. They reused the single-use bags over and over again, for swaps of fruit, vegetables, eggs, nuts, etc. between neighbours. We did the same. Nothing gets wasted in the French countryside: egg shells go in the compost (full of calcium), same for nut shells. Old egg boxes get used for germinating seeds, before being recycled eventually.
In French supermarkets, use of single-use bags were discontinued many years before the official ban. Each supermarket gave out one *free* reusable bag to each customer with a fidelity card (to avoid people asking again and again). As we has several fidelity cards with several different stores, we landed up with enough bags for all our shopping. These bags "live on" even today, as they are replaced free of charge when they get too many holes or cracks.
From 2004, we observed at first hand what French countryside people did. They reused the single-use bags over and over again, for swaps of fruit, vegetables, eggs, nuts, etc. between neighbours. We did the same. Nothing gets wasted in the French countryside: egg shells go in the compost (full of calcium), same for nut shells. Old egg boxes get used for germinating seeds, before being recycled eventually.
In French supermarkets, use of single-use bags were discontinued many years before the official ban. Each supermarket gave out one *free* reusable bag to each customer with a fidelity card (to avoid people asking again and again). As we has several fidelity cards with several different stores, we landed up with enough bags for all our shopping. These bags "live on" even today, as they are replaced free of charge when they get too many holes or cracks.
