IN response to JE Langford’s letter (HAS, June 27) concerning a flaw in Sainsbury’s initiative to promote reusable carriers, in that people have to buy plastic bags on a roll instead of using their supermarket carrier bags for household tasks.

Why do we have such a need to constantly bag things up in plastic bags? Dog doo bags, nappy bags, food bags, lining bins with bags, bagging rubbish before putting it into our wheelie bins...the list goes on.

Why do we do this? Surely we can put rubbish in the kitchen bin and then rinse it after emptying it?

Wrapping things in newspaper or other biodegradable materials would be much better.

There are lots of alternatives to use – plastic bags should be the last resort, not the easy option. Life did exist before carrier bags and could again if we wanted it to.

Mrs Angela Hilton, Dalton Piercy, Hartlepool.