The London Councils – the organisation representing the 33 London boroughs – has called for increased efforts in limiting the environmental impact of single-use carrier bags despite the Climate Change Bill potentially putting a compulsory levy on the bags.
Councillor Merrick Cockell, chairman of London Councils, said: “We all have a duty to reduce the number of single-use bags we use, and tough action needs to be taken to achieve this. However, the Government's plans to simply add a tax or charge for these bags do not go far enough. What kind of deterrent is a few extra pennies on the weekly shopping bill?”
London Councils placed the London Local Authorities (Shopping Bags) Bill in Parliament last November with the intention of limiting the amount of disposable shopping bags used in the capital but has been critical of a proposed levy on bags included in the Climate Change Bill, which is expected to receive Royal Assent this autumn.
Levy
The compulsory levy would be introduced if the current voluntary agreement with the retail sector – the Courtauld Commitment – fails to substantially reduce their use.
Conversely, the separate Local Authorities (Shopping Bags) Bill, which is currently awaiting its Second Reading, calls for an out-right ban of single-use carrier bags in the capital.
A spokesman for London Councils told letsrecycle.com: “The Government is taking its own way to go through with this and what we are saying is ‘look, the realistic way forward with this is a ban of single use throwaway shopping bags'.
“There are a number of questions [surrounding a levy], who collects it? Who does the money go to? The ban simply says we won't have them anymore and takes away these questions,” he added.
Reduction
Currently, retailers are expected to reduce the environmental impact of single-use bags by 25% by the end of 2008, with the Government expected to force companies to charge for the bags if they do not achieve this goal.
However, in July, Defra stated that there was no formal target in place for how much companies must reduce the use of plastic bags to avoid charges (see letsrecycle.com story).
Some retail organisations, such as the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) and the British Retailers Consortium, have been vocal in their opposition to the London Councils' draft Bill, which they see as “excessive”, and have instead reinforced the efforts of the Courtauld Commitment (see letsrecycle.com story).
James Lowman, chief executive of the ACS said: “We are strongly committed to reducing the amount of carrier bag usage and waste in the UK. We are supporters of the [retail] industry/ Defra agreement on reducing the environmental impact of carrier bags and open to any discussion on how we can take this further.”
Sainsbury's
The comments made by London Councils come in the wake of the announcement that Sainsbury's is going to remove single-use carrier bags from sight in its stores at the start of October, a move that is said to have “delighted” London Councils.
Under the system being introduced, Sainsbury's will remove all carrier bags from sight at checkouts, although shoppers will be able to specifically ask for one from the checkout operator if they so wish.
The intention behind the scheme is to encourage people to bring reusable bags instead, in a similar initiative to that which was introduced by its competitor ASDA in June 2008.
Sainsbury's intends to reduce the amount of plastic bags it uses by 50% by April 2009, and introduced a Nectar card points reward system in June for people who refuse single-use bags. The company claims to have already seen a drop of 28% in the use of the bags since a number of in-store trials began in April, while sales of reusable bags have risen by 63%.
Justin King, chief executive, Sainsbury's, said: “It's extremely positive that our customers have significantly reduced their use of free carrier bags in a matter of months, and the results clearly show that customers respond to being rewarded and reminded for re-using their bags.
“We want to make it easier for customers to be less reliant on free carrier bags and prompt positive behaviour change. We are on track to reduce bags by 50% by April 2009,” he added.
Retailers
The move by Sainsbury's makes it the latest major retailer to take a stand on plastic bag recycling, following Marks and Spencer introduction of a 5p charge for bags in May 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story) and Tesco rewarding shoppers who bring their own reusable bags to the stores with loyalty card points.
Mr Cockell said: “I am delighted that Sainsbury's are following the growing trend of stores taking a stand for the environment by doing this. It helps add more weight to our argument that using single-use shopping bags is socially unacceptable.”
“Free throwaway bags are an environmental hazard. Londoners use an estimated 1.6 billion of them each year, and these either end up littering our streets, becoming a danger to wildlife or in landfill sites where they can take 400 years to break down,” he added.
Subscribe for free