Paper bags and carrier bags

Can't remember when plastic bags started being freely dispensed at supermarket checkouts. I do remember a time when, if you were given a bag, it was a brown paper bag (I seem to remember white bags at bakers) and a carrier bag was made of thick paper with string type handles. Of course, back in the 50s and 60sw, people knew nothing about recycling or saving the planet so, as a matte of course, they used to take their own shopping bags with them and, if they forgot them, used to ask the grocer if he had a spare box.