Plastic bags in the news
This section contains Towards a Plastic-Bag-Free Kingston press releases and links to media stories about plastic bags. See also stories highlighted in side menu.
Sainsbury encouraging re-use of bags
"From Wednesday 1 October we’ll be removing our free bags from the checkouts to encourage bag re-use. Customers who still require carrier bags will now need to ask ...In June we trialled this idea in some of our stores and the comments from our customers and colleagues was very positive. From this trial we saw a reduction in the number of free plastic bags we give away, as customers used their own or purchased our ‘Bag for life’ instead. This will help in meeting our pledge to halve the number of disposable plastic bags we giveaway for free by April 2009. The great news is that we’re already over half way to achieving our target."
Towards a Plastic-Bag-Free Kingston press release, September 2008: Another weapon in the battle against plastic bags
W H Smith to scrap plastic bags
Daily Mirror reports on moves towards scrapping free plastic bags, 19/8/08
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/08/19/wh-smith-to-scrap-plastic-bags-115875-20703441/
Tesco takes bags off the checkout
packagingnews.co.uk, 13/8/08
Tesco is requiring customers at its larger stores to ask checkout operators for single-use plastic carrier bags in a bid to reduce usage.
http://www.packagingnews.co.uk/environment/news/839115/Tesco-takes-bags-off-checkout/
L.A. City Council votes for ban on plastic shopping bags, Los Angeles Times, 23/7/08
The council plans to ban plastic carryout bags in the city's stores by 2010, unless the state imposes a 25-cent fee on those who request them... Council members said they hope an impending ban would spur consumers to begin carrying canvas or other reusable bags, reducing the amount of plastic that washes into the city's storm drains and the ocean.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-plastic23-2008jul23,0,5875215...
There's more than one way of getting cash from plastic
The Scotsman, 30 July 2008
"BYOB once commonly featured on party invitations indicating to those that were planning to attend that they should bring their own bottle. It could now be equally construed in the retail trade but with reference to bags rather than glass containers.Next week, style store TK Maxx will become the latest high street retailer to improve its green credentials by making its customers pay for plastic bags in a bid to reduce waste and cut the one billion free plastic bags given away in Scotland every year, 80 per cent of which are handed out by supermarkets... The demise of the plastic bag is inevitable.”
Read the full story at http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/There39s-more-than-one-way.4338332.jp
"Supermarkets have been told they must slash the number of plastic carrier bags they give to customers by 70 per cent by next spring. The Government has warned stores that a failure to do so voluntarily will trigger a change in the law to put an end to the distribution of free throwaway bags, dubbed 'plastic poison'".... Read the whole story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1039424/Stores-given-spring-cut-plastic-bags-70-cent.html
Will new London mayor Boris Johnson ban bags?
He said he would! See http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.show.article.page&obj_id=140428
BBC R4, Costing the Earth, 29/5/08: "All Wrapped Up and Nowhere to Go: Plastic bags and packaging are anathema to the environmentalist. Yet the issue is more complex. How much packaging does our food need?" Interesting discussion at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainframe.shtml?http://www.bbc.co.uk/r...
National Trust introduces 5p charge, 1 May 2008
The National Trust introduces a 5p charge on plastic bags in its shops and plant centres.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/uk/plastic+bag+fee+at+national+trust/2113252?intcmp=rss_news_itnnews
Leeds, Bradord and Hebden Bridge in the news
BBC News short video-clip about campaign to ban the plastic carrier bag in Leeds and Bradford, and Hebden Bridge, which has gone plastic-bag-free.
Daily Mail launches campaign on plastic bags, February 2008
For coverage of the plastic bag issue in the Daily Mail, with useful facts, stats, pics, links and petition, see:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=519870&in_page_id=1770
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=519433&in_page_id=1770 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=521529&in_page_id=1770&ct=5
"Gordon Brown gives supermarkets one year to start charging for plastic bags ... or else" (Daily Mail, 29/2/08)http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=522765&in_page_id=1770
"Why Sarah and I know this is right: Prime Minister Gordon Brown backs the Daily Mail's Banish the Bags campaign" (Daily Mail, 29/2/08) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=522766&in_page_id=1770
China clamps down on plastic bag use, January 2008
China is to ban the use of some plastic bags and to force consumers to pay for others in its latest move to save on resources and ease the pressures on its environment. When will we follow suit?
Read the full story in Guardian Unlimited, Tuesday January 8, 2008, http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2237307,00.html
On 6 November 2007, Marks & Spencer announced that there would be a trial 5p charge for carrier bags in 33 of its stores in the south-west of England from Sunday 13 January. For three weeks customers in Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall will receive a free M&S Bag for Life with each food transaction. This trial follows a 16-week period of charging 5p per bag in its Northern Ireland stores, which led to a 66% reduction in the number of carriers used. If the West country Trial is successful,M&S will introduce the charge throughout the country.
Re-use a Bag in Kingston comment: "Where M&S leads other retailers may well follow, so we welcome this move. But we wonder if 5p is enough to deter shoppers and encourage them to use their own bags in an affluent place like Kingston? 50p might be more of a deterrent!" See http://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/node/n/66823031?ie=UTF8&mnSBrand=core
A plastic-bag-free High Wycombe town centre came a step closer in November 2007 when a petition with over 1800 signatures called for their ban in a new shopping centre due to open next spring.
Our comment: "We'd be so proud if Kingston became the first large shopping centre to ban plastic and other throw-away shopping bags, but it looks increasingly as if other towns are going to be much quicker to respond to this environmental problem and to get the kudos that goes with being first and being green. Maybe Kingston could be first in London, rather than waiting for the inevitable ban?"
