London councils confirm Bill to tackle free carrier bags

Following a public consultation that saw 90% support for action, London Councils will introduce proposals for either a levy on plastic bags, or an outright ban within the 10th Bill to be submitted by London local authorities.

Expected to enter Parliament on November 27, it will be called the London Local Authorities (Shopping Bag) Bill.

The agreement on action in London came as supermarket giant Sainsbury's revealed that it has seen a 10% drop in the use of free plastic bags at its UK stores in the last six months.

London

London Councils – the umbrella group for London's 32 boroughs and the City of London – said conservative estimates indicated that Londoners in the capital are given 1.6 billion bags each year, while many more are handed out to visitors and tourists.

It suggested that just one in 200 bags is recycled.

While the purpose of the Bill will be to encourage shops to provide more environmentally friendly alternatives, London Councils said they would still be able to sell plastic bags.

Welcoming a cross-party decision to push to ban throw-away shopping bags in the capital, London Councils chairman Councillor Merrick Cockell said: “The campaign to rid the capital of the environmental blight of throw away shopping bags begins here.

“As a society, we need to do far more to reduce the amount of waste we are sending to landfill and London as a city is determined to take an ambitious lead on this issue. I urge all Londoners to voice their support to their MP and back the Bill once it gets to Parliament,” Cllr Cockell added.

London-based waste education and awareness specialist Waste Watch has come out in support of the Bill, with the not-for-profit group's director, Peter Robinson, saying: “We've seen successful action taken on carrier bags all across the world from Australia to Zanzibar, and now it's time for London to take a lead on this issue in the UK. Like the vast majority of Londoners, we want to see a massive reduction in disposable carrier bags going to landfill so we fully support this Bill.”

Sainsbury's

Meanwhile, supermarket chain Sainsbury's revealed today that it has given out 85 million fewer free disposable bags over the last six months to its 16 million customers.

Along with a 50% increase in the use of re-usable bags, it believes 750 tonnes of bags have been effectively saved from going to landfill.

The company said the sharp decline in free carrier bags had come partly thanks to its two “Make the difference” days held so far, when Sainsbury's removed free, disposable carrier bags from check-outs and instead offered free re-usable “Bags for Life”.

It is holding another of these one-day, once-a-month campaigns over the weekend of November 17 and 18.

Gwyn Burr, Sainsbury's customer director, says: “This is a positive and significant shift in the right direction. Customers are using and re-using longer life bags more than ever before and relying less on free carrier bags. This also suggests that our ‘Make the difference' days are encouraging real behaviour change amongst our 16 million customers and their shopping habits.