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British Shoppers Must Learn to Bring Their Own Bags |
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• Monday, 05 January 2009
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 LONDON, UK, December 29, 2008 (ENS ) - By next spring, some of Britain's largest supermarket chains will halve the number of plastic and paper bags they supply to customers as compared with a 2006 baseline under an agreement reached last week between the government and the retailers.
The 50 percent cut was set by British Environment Minister Jane Kennedy
and the British Retail Consortium. The agreement covers seven of
Britain's major supermarket chains - Asda, the CO-OP, Marks and
Spencer, Sainsbury's, Somerfield, Tesco, and Waitrose.
The agreement to reduce the volume of carrier bags by 50 percent
against 2006 levels, covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The
Scottish Executive has a similar agreement with retailers in Scotland.
In 2006, around 13 billion bags were used by consumers in the UK. The
number of bags saved by spring 2009 through this agreement would fill
60 Olympic-sized swimming pools, environment officials calculate.
Environment Minister Kennedy said, "This is a bold commitment which
will result in around five billion fewer bags being handed out.
Supermarkets have already taken some imaginative steps to help us use
fewer carrier bags and other high street retailers should look to them
for inspiration. Of course, we can all play our part to reduce the
number of carrier bags on our high streets and the government will work
closely with the BRC on a campaign to help us all to do so."
BRC Director General Stephen Robertson said, "Together with other
environmental initiatives, supermarkets are meeting their existing
commitment to reduce the environmental impact of bags by 25 percent.
They're now volunteering an ambitious new target to help customers
halve bag use by next spring."
"Supermarkets have been so successful in this by taking customers with
them in ways they find acceptable, by encouraging and rewarding,"
Robertson said.
"This new partnership with the government, underpinned by action across
the retail sector, offers exciting new opportunities to help our
customers across the UK to do the right thing," he said. "It's one more
step towards reducing waste and environmental impact."
Liz Goodwin, CEO of the government-funded not-for-profit Waste &
Resources Action Programme, said, "The word from stores is that many
more of us are re-using our bags. That is something we are working to
encourage and WRAP will be playing its full part in this initiative."
Progress on the agreement will be monitored by WRAP and will be reviewed in the summer of 2010.
"This agreement should act as a spur to all of us to remember to take
our bags with us when shopping," said Goodwin. "Retailers and
governments are now clearly working together to help all of us reduce
the number of bags we use. The aim, which is at the core of WRAP's
work, is a world which uses resources more efficiently."
The agreement states that even fewer carrier bags will be given out in
the future, saying, "The governments and the BRC share an aspiration to
go further towards a reduction of 70 percent over the longer term and,
supported by leading retailers, commit to joint efforts on consumer
engagement as crucial to making this a reality."
Source: Environment News Service (ENS) 2008.
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