SHOPPING is about to get more expensive with the introduction of a 5p charge for single-use carrier bags.

Last year, over seven billion were issued by supermarkets in the UK. Many ended up in landfill or dumped in the street or rivers killing wildlife and costing tax-payers millions of pounds to clean-up, according to former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who is urging retailers to donate the proceeds to charity.

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Similar charges in Ireland, Wales and Switzerland have led to an 80 per cent reduction in the number of carrier bags issued.

It’s good news for the environment, but it’s a big irritant to shoppers. Anyone who shops at Aldi, where the charge is already in place, will understand.

Two things put me off shopping at the budget retailer.

Top of the list is the frantic way the shop assistants push shopping through the till leaving you panicked and hurling tins of beans into your trolley to keep up. Then you have to take it all out again to put into bags.

Being organised, you bring good, strong, sturdy ones from home, only to discover that you need more. So you have to re-join the queue or butt into somebody else’s buying experience to buy a couple. And only if you’re lucky, the bags may survive the journey to the car boot because they’re as flimsy as tissue paper. What a faff!

I’m also peeved that the government seems to be ignoring the fact that most of us re-cycle our plastic bags without thinking. If you’ve got a dog, they’re a saving on poop bags. If you have a child, they’re reinvented as nappy bags. They double up as bin-liners, lunch box carriers, window pane replacements, plant protectors and home hair dye caps. And everybody has a plastic bag hanging somewhere in their home for storing...plastic bags.

I’ve often put one over my head in a storm after a trip to the hairdresser. It’s not cool, and just a little bit dangerous (don’t do this at home, kids), but if you don’t mind looking like an idiot, it does the trick. I’ve also tied placcy bags around my new light suede boots to protect them from the rain.

And when the dog’s paw was injured and she wasn’t allowed to go outside in case the bandage got wet, a plastic shopping bag came in handy. I’ve even known a man to rip them up into shreds and use as dental floss.

Everybody I know re-uses plastic bags, but thanks to a minority of irresponsible morons, we’re now having to pay for the privilege. Not plastic fantastic.