The amendment could propose extending an existing proposal for a London-wide ban on disposable shopping bags to allow all councils across the country to ban single-use bags.
Campaign
Ms Gavron, representing Mayor Ken Livingstone, was joined by Green Party London Assembly member Jenny Jones as well as the Recycle for London campaign and free newspaper thelondonpaper, to hand out 10,000 free cotton bags on Oxford Street and Regent Street.
Launching the campaign, she said on average Londoners use 37 million new plastic bags each week, which adds up to 2.2 billion bags a year. Only one in 200 of these are being recycled, according to the Mayor.
Adding his support to the campaign, Mr Livingstone said: “It is estimated that most of these plastic bags are used on average for just 12 minutes before being thrown away where they end up in landfill sites and take an estimated 400 years to decompose. If every Londoner cut just one in five of the new plastic bags used in the capital each year, it would help reduce waste and litter, as well as saving almost 11,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.”
Bag ban
The public clearly wants a ban, and government must act by introducing a national tax similar to the one in Ireland.
Jenny Jones, Green Party
Plastic bags might be a relatively small part of the waste stream by weight, making up less than 1% of the material going to landfills, but local authorities see them as a “wedge” issue in engaging with the public – holding open the door to other waste awareness issues.
The deputy mayor said on Friday that the London campaign against bags was also supposed to remind shoppers about all of other their waste.
Ms Gavron said: “Today's campaign is a suitable reminder for Londoners to stand back and look at the amount of rubbish they create on a weekly basis.”
London's boroughs are currently seeking more action to tackle plastic bags with a Bill proposing a ban on single-use shopping bags (see letsrecycle.com story). Umbrella organisation London Councils says it will keep pushing the Bill unless the government makes more of an effort to reduce the impact of disposable bags.
The Local Government Association has said it is supporting the London Councils' Bill, and may even go further by introducing an amendment to the Climate Change Bill giving all councils the power to ban bags in a similar vein.
According to minutes of the LGA's Environment Board meeting held last month, which have been published this month, the Association has agreed to investigate the possibility of such an amendment to the Climate Change Bill.
Explaining the reasons for such an amendment, it said: “Not only because of the positive effect on the environment but also because this conforms to the principle of devolution of deision-making to the local level. It was also suggested that this power should be extended to all local authorities.”
On Friday, Green Party GLA member Jenny Jones claimed the general public is in favour of a ban on disposable bags. She praised the Irish system, which sets a levy on each bag sold of around 10 pence equivalent.
Ms Jones said: “The public clearly wants a ban, and government must act by introducing a national tax similar to the one in Ireland that resulted in a 90 per cent reduction in usage of throwaway plastic bags.”
Retailers are keener on a voluntary approach, with many now offering re-usable “bags for life”.
Supporting Friday's campaign in Oxford Street, Richard Dickinson, chief executive officer of New West End Company, said, “West End retailers are also very keen to encourage green shopping practices with many of them introducing their own eco bags this year. The Mayor's support will help us all focus on the things we can do, every day, to become greener consumers.”
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