Not Quite a Load Of Rubbish! (Sainsbury's Basics Refuse Sacks)

Member Name: skidd

Product:	Sainsbury's Basics Refuse Sacks
Date:	10/03/09 (243 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap

Disadvantages: Far too thin

I had just settled down to watch "Eggheads" when the peace was shattered!
"Mum! The bag's split", came the plaintive cry.
I rushed to the rescue to find daughter holding the black sack she had tried to retrieve from kitchen bin and trying to prevent it spilling its contents but there was already a mess of old teabags and potato peelings on the floor. And before anybody comments there's no point composting as with just two tiny patios in my basement I could not find any use for it!

Together we retrieved the nasty damp items, put them into another black sack and manoeuvred the damaged one into the new one. No mean feat! Having duly knotted the top, daughter set off for the communal bin but did not get to the front door before she noticed a gaping hole had appeared in the outer sack with the slightly sharp edge of one of those (non recyclable) plastic food trays emerging in a threatening manner! There was no choice - we sellotaped the hole as best we could and put the whole mess into a third sack! At last our mission was successfully accomplished with the three bags for one technique and by the time I returned to the TV, Jeremy Vine was on the final Egghead round.

I had purchased these Sainsbury's Basics Bin Liners when stocking up before Christmas. I would usually avoid cheaper versions of this particular commodity, having been caught in the past, but I believe they were on a 3 for 2 offer when I purchased them and I reasoned that, as Sainsbury's have a reputation for quality to uphold, they wouldn't be that bad. I also considered that if all else failed they would be useful for all the excess wrapping rubbish. However I am a bit of a squirrel and tend to stockpile such items and they must have got to the back of the pile and remained unused until after Christmas.

They are part of the Sainsbury's Basics range which consists of around 550 everyday essentials at bargain basement prices. I have tried a few of these which have been generally acceptable but I cannot say the same of these. On the wrapper it actually states "Thinner but not rubbish". It also advises that any glass and sharp items should be wrapped. I would do this anyway but would not think to include innocuous plastic trays in this category. Of its Basics range Sainsbury's state, "often when we see a low price, we assume low quality, but this isn't the case with our basics range". Sorry Sainsbury's but in this case such an assumption would be correct. These bags are too thin and lacking in the strength necessary for easy clean rubbish disposal.

Strangely enough though they are still value for money! They are amazingly cheap, a 30 bag roll costs just 71p. This works out as just over 2p per bag. The cheapest non economy bin liners cost a minimum of 9p per bag. Therefore if you are prepared to use three of these thin offerings at a time you will still be pennies in credit! In these difficult times, they could be worth a try in a "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves" way!

Maybe this is all a bit insignificant in the grand scheme of things but Tesco and Asda offer the consumer almost exactly the same choice pricewise - economy around 2p, standard around 9p. Can't our supermarket giants come up with a reasonable in between alternative which is of sufficient strength to deal with our daily rubbish or is this just another example of how the big supermarkets manipulate us into believing we have choices?

Summary: Cheap and nasty but maybe still an economic choice?