The Big Blue IKEA Bag

In a recent news article, I noticed that Tesco are now "giving" 1 Green Club Card point for every bag that you re-use when you do your weekly grocery shop.

They hope to reduce plastic bag usage by 25% over the next two years. To help their customers get over this shock, they are also recommending their 10p "Bag for Life" as a Great replacement. I think the theory is that you buy these "Bags for Life" and when they break then Tesco will give you a replacement - although I'm not sure how they define "Life".

However, I now think there is a better alternative.

We recently moved house and my wife suggested that we bought a number of the Ikea Big Blue Bags on a recent visit to our local store. For those of you unfamiliar with them, they cost 25p each and are about as deep as a standard carrier bag but are a lot longer, Ikea say they will take five times as much as a standard bag. Well, let me tell you - she was spot on, they were really useful during the move for carrying all manner of things, soft furnishings, duvets, bedding, towels, the list is almost endless. They have a popper to keep them closed and short and long handles to make carrying them as easy as possible. Great value for 25p.

I have recently learned that Ikea are also looking to significantly reduce the number of disposable carrier bags. They have started charging 5 p per bag, with this increasing to 10p per bag later in 2006. This is a great incentive to migrate to something more eco friendly.

Although I haven't tried using the Big blue Bag for my grocery shopping yet, and won't benefit because I don't shop at Tesco, I do think that it will make a great way to bring the shopping home and must remember to put the bags in the car next time I head off to Asda.

So let's hear it for the Big Blue Ikea Bag.