"Plastic bags are a small part of a much bigger problem - the litter we see around us and the long-term effects of our throwaway life-styles on the environment and wildlife,” says co-ordinator of the Kingston Greener campaign, Marilyn Mason. “but giving them up is one of the easiest ways for both shops and shoppers to make a difference. We don't need so many of them, and bags lying on our roadsides or floating in the river are not good advertisements for the retailers that supply them. I hope that raising awareness about their impact will encourage shoppers to get into the habit of taking a bag with them and retailers to stop giving them out automatically."
"If we were all to minimise the use of plastic bags and bottles, to resist shopping in places where they were most used, and to favour retail outlets that offered alternatives, it would not only conserve energy, but also significantly enhance the appearance – and thus the aesthetic pleasure - of our local environment, where at present roads and rivers are littered with plastic waste." (Professor Kate Soper writing on "alternative hedonism")
Read the latest Greener upon Thames newsletter at http://us7.campaign-archive1.com/?u=5e475a71ab7a805865bfe0531&id=83e23d9a2a&e=[UNIQID] - and subscribe to future occasional updates on the anti-plastic-waste campaign from GUT at http://facebook.us7.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=5e475a71ab7a805865bfe0531&id=f417993632.
See also the Greener Upon Thames Facebook page for regular updates and discussion.