apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

are they going to provide paper free of charge to wrap breakables? based on my last few trips, i would not be surprised if they are going to make you use plastic bags and then charge you.

Bag caught in a tree? Ugh... I absolutely hate the sight of a plastic bag caught the very arms of Mother Nature! So sad...

Superstore here in Canada has been charging for bags du plastic ever since get-go (like early 90s), and so far it has been a very positive thing. People bring their own bags to stock up! BYOB!!

I doubt this will impact any other retailers, at least here in southern California, but I hope it starts a trend!

I was at the Costa Mesa Ikea this weekend as well, and my Southern Californian-native friends were not amused by the new policy. :(

I think it's shitty - yes shitty. I recycle all bags I get for other things - trash, dog poo etc. I am on a tight budget 5 cents a bag is bs.. and in the first place their bags are - and have always been - crap. You have to double bag everything and if its glass or a breakable item, well good luck. Esp. if you are buying more than a bag of stuff. Also I frequently by crap loads there for work and having to figure out how I am going to get 4 carts of items wrapped and how much it will cost bag-wise & how many bags and bags for wrapping the breakables, so they can ring up the bags I need is absurd and time consuming.

In Europe they charge the bags but it is a paper bag, not plastic. Why do they use plastic in USA? I thought you used paper bags mostly.

It's a fab idea. I reuse all my bags and would love this reminder to bring my own tote to the store. Perhaps it'll slow down the trend of American cashiers double bagging even when you request single bags or paper. I've always paid for bags when shopping at the supermarket in Asia.

Why, oh why, are there not yet biodegradable plastic-type bags? This has always puzzled me. They must exist. Are they just too expensive?

In any event, I have been on a really, really tight budget in college, and if you manage to scrounge up the money for Ikea on a tight budget, you can shell out 5 cents a bag. Come on.

Rad. I already own one of these bags anyway. The only bummer is that I remember to take it with me when I go to Ikea, what about impromptu trips? Their plastic bags were too thin to reuse. I'd guess that they will continue to provide butcher paper to wrap your inexpensive pottery in.

There are biodegradable plastic-type bags, made from corn:

http://www.biobagusa.com/biodegradable-bags.html

I'm sure other companies manufacture them, too.

I believe retailers should be legally required to use biodegradable bags.

There are certainly bio-degradable bags as the above poster mentioned, but there's a really small market for them and a lot of companies aren't interested b/c they cost more. My dad works at a company that produces said bio-degradable plastic and they have a hell of a time finding interested buyers. It's astonishingly shortsighted.

re: biodegradable bags.. like all biodegradable plastic, sounds like a great idea, but they make no difference if they are not disposed in a separate compost facility. Trash does not biodegrade in landfills because there is no air circulation (archaeologists have dug into landfills and found 50 year old newspapers still intact, e.g.). Same deal with "compostable" water bottles, plastic forks/knives, plates, etc.

In Ireland for the past 5 years they have required all stores to charge 15 cents for each plastic bag and the money goes directly to a government environmental fund (not for the store's profit) similar to the bottle bill here. They can supply paper bags for free and many stores also sell 50cent or more heavier reusable plastic for profit and advertising. Needless to say it has dramatically cut down on the number of bags flying around, and quickly changed people's (including my own) bag habits.

If you don't want to buy a bag, bring one. I think it's a fantastic idea.

i have a couple of those huge blue IKEA bags - they are great and can hold everything: smallish furniture purchases, laundry, goodwill items..

they used to be 99cents - now they are 59cents. for those griping about 5cents, this is a great deal!

Lgrl, you can't afford a nickel per bag, but you can afford to haul your cookies to IKEA and you can afford to buy a lot of stuff there that requires mulitiple bags and you can afford to keep a dog (God only knows what breed that requires an Ikea bag to clean up after it)????

Somebody calls me when Gen X have all whined themselves to death.

ok, here's a gen x-er that thinks that 5 cents a bag isn't enough - 15 cents sounds closer to a number that would make people think twice.

it will be a great day when people simply assume they'll need to bring their own bag when shopping for anything.

people have to realize that things like plastic bags have a price - to the environment.

Here in the land where Ikea began, they sell the large blue Ikea bags for the equivalent of about 75 cents US.

Not a bad deal, and far better for carting things around than measly little plastic shopping bags -- which they charge for here in Sweden, as well, which might be one reason why we don't have lots of bags caught on trees or floating along sidewalks everywhere you look.

Dog poop, however, we've got plenty of that. I guess the plastic bags are too dear to shovel poop into.

The charge in Ireland is 15c Euro so closer to 20c in US dollars. It's just enough to make you remember to bring bags with you when you go out to shop (and just enough to piss you off when you forget a bag and have to pay it). I rarely leave home on foot without a bag in my purse and we store reusable bags for the grocery store in the car. Nevertheless the sight of someone walking home from the store with TP, bread and a litre of milk balanced in their hands has become a common one in Dublin in recent years.

well it's about time a retail company took a serious step in promoting a healthier environment and did something that will immediately help "GREEN" the world we live in. People HAVE to stop feeling so "self-entitled" and realize there are alternative ways to live and YES they take some adjusting to!! GET OVER IT...we don't own anything in this world we just seem to USE & ABUSE 'til all is gone. KUDOS to IKEA...now if they could get thier act together on "customer Service.... :')