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Ref: 455/07 29 November 2007
Towards A Plastic Bag-Free Cheshire
CHESHIRE may soon become a ‘plastic bag free zone’, the latest recruit to a growing campaign to eradicate litter and environmental damage.
County Councillors George Mainwaring and David Newton have placed a motion before the council urging it to support initiatives aimed at local authorities and the retail trade to persuade shoppers not to use the disposable “single journey” plastic bag.
They have called for the expansion of the county council’s own ‘bags for life’ initiative which has seen 26,000 shopping bags sold to Cheshire shoppers over the last two years, and for supermarkets and retail shop keepers to introduce charges for plastic bags, a move which the councillors believe would help protect the environment and have a impact on climate change.
It is estimated Britons consume 8 billion plastic bags a year, the equivalent of 133 per person per year. Environmentalists have called for an end to plastic bags, which they say may only be used for 20 minutes but then take 100 years to rot away, and a switch to paper bags that can decompose in days.
The councillors believe Cheshire should be looking to lessons learned in Ireland which in recent years introduced a charge for plastic bags and as a result saw a fall of almost 98% in bag consumption.
Plastic bags have been banned in Bangladesh where as litter they were responsible for the blocking of important drains; in India the litter led to the choking of cattle that ingested the bags, Taiwan and Singapore have followed suit, and around the world concern has been expressed over bag-related deaths to turtles and marine life.
Councillor Mainwaring explained how he had listened to the concerns of Northwich people, “As a council we should be showing a lead,” he said.
“We all use plastic bags and we can now play our part by using less and less. We forget there is a cost, there is the initial cost of the oil used in their manufacturer, then there is the cost of cleaning up after they been discarded. It’s a total waste of valuable resources.
“Councillor Newton and I simply want to see a start to local discussion on the problem and to see Cheshire make an impression towards an improved environment both locally and nationally,” he said.
Cheshire County Council’s “Bag for Life” scheme has seen sales of the £2 bags continuing at 500 a month. The jute based bags can be used for a year or until they wear out, and then added to the household compost.
Note To Editors:
For further details: Call County Councillors George Mainwaring (Tel: 01606 46368) or David Newton (Tel 01270 661791). |