That must be rubbish about the paper bags taking longer than plastic.
I am now plastic bag free as I have 4 large reusable shopping bags in my boot and one freezer bag (though rarely use that).
The only plastic bags I use are my kitchen bin bags (they are made to fit the bin) and doggy poop bags.

I do think M&S starting to charge for bags will be the start of others following suit, and it's a good thing, though I have to say when I have bought a sandwich and snack bar there and said no to a bag you do feel a bit like a shoplifter carrying them in your hands out the store.

One thing I do wish M&S would do though is stop those stupid gift cards. I got given vouchers for Xmas by a client and everytime I pop in to buy something with them I get the change, no matter how small the amount, on a plastic gift card! I've got loads, all with silly amounts on and it doesn't tell you how much is on there til you get to pay.
Rant over.

I use cloth bags so I dont really bother with carrier bags bit I agree Denis they should do something

I'd be happy to use paper bags. I was quite shocked reading a notice in our local co-op that said aMinke whale stranded on a beach in Normandy was found to have 800g of plastic bags and packaging within its stomach. How sad is that?

This might explain it, apparently it uses more energy to both produce and recycle the paper ones
http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=7

or this
http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1315/

on a monday i head off to the shops with a nice smart back pack on, and inside that i have 2 asdas black shopping bags, think ive got about 1/2 a dozen carrier bags in the house, use them as a just in case i run out of poo bags.
ive also got a couple of ikea small bags they are handy to keep in the car.

We've been using reusable canvas bags for ages.

Plastic bags have been a bit of a no no down here for a while. We always use our own shopping bag or we have a couple of smaller canvas ones depending on what we are doing.
Our shores see quite a lot of Leather back Turtles in the summer. They are drawn here by the jelly fish that they eat. Now a plastic bag floating in the water looks just like..........yeh, you guessed it, a jelly fish. So these poor turtles are eating the plastic bags which of course is fatal to them

Becky with gift cards at least you get change. I was given a £15 book token which I used today, but my books only came to £12 49p. So I lost £2 - 51p cos they don't give change.

A town near me..............

http://www.plasticbagfree.com/

I despise plastic carrier bags and refuse to use them, full stop. I have several cloth ones, that I can reuse over and over again. I was in Sainsbury's just recently to get my lunch, and picked up 6 or 7 items. On reaching the checkout, I realised by bags were still in the boot of the car. I paid for my stuff, and balanced it in my arms and stuffed it in my pockets rather than have a carrier. I really do hate the bloody things.
I've even started picking up dog poo with kitchen roll......