Waste debate over shopping bags in London

There are now just two weeks left in the consultation run by London Councils, the umbrella organisation for the boroughs, which wants to include measures to restrict single-use shopping bags within the next London Local Authorities Bill.

The consultation runs until October 26, before the Bill is drafted in November.

The consultation asks the public its views on a range of options – from doing nothing, to an outright ban on all throw away shopping bags – or just for plastic ones. The measures target all types of bags that are given away free and have a very limited intended and actual lifespan – not just plastic carrier bags.

It is estimated that Londoners use at least 1.6 billion bags per year – although the number of tourists in the capital suggests that this figure is probably much higher.

London Councils said that while some of these bags will be re-used once or twice, only one in 200 are recycled, “meaning that billions of shopping bags are sent to landfill every year”.

Although it said government, retailers and consumers recognise this as a problem, and many of them are already making efforts to reduce the amount of bags sent to landfill, the organisation wants Londoners “to lead the country in a bold initiative”.

London Councils executive member for sustainability, Councillor Sean Brennan said: “London, along with the rest of the world's major cities, will play a major role in how we rise to the challenge of climate change, and Londoners are evidently keen to step up to the mark and give their views on how we do this.

“I would urge everyone to seize this opportunity to help shape London's environmental future,” Cllr Brennan said.

Biodegradable bags

One company that has already responded to the London Councils consultation is Symphony Environmental, which make biodegradable plastic bags.

It wants a lower rate of tax on biodegradable plastic bags if the boroughs succeed in introducing a plastic bag levy into UK law. In particular, the company was arguing on behalf of “oxo-biodegradable” bags, which it said can be made to biodegrade according to a set timescale “from as little as six months up to a few years”.

Symphony claims such bags “biodegrade completely, being consumed by natural bacteria, fungi and oxygen”. The Co-op is already a user of oxo-biodegradeable plastics, as are Tesco and Walmart supermarkets.

“Greenwash”

Meanwhile, carrier bag producers have accused supporters of plastic bag bans or taxes of a “greenwash”, after calls for a levy in Scotland failed (see letsrecycle.com story).

Barry Turner, chairman of the industry lobby group the Carrier Bag Consortium, said: “Ill-informed attacks on the plastic carrier bag have already wasted time, energy, resources and £2 million of taxpayers' money in Scotland. The same is now set to happen again as the London Councils and the Welsh Assembly both seem blinded by political greenwash instead of taking a serious look at the science.”

The Consortium is highlighting statements from WRAP that suggested a plastic bag tax in Scotland would mean an extra 13,500 tonnes of waste going into Scottish landfills.

However, this argument was based on the use of paper bags to replace plastic carrier bags, whereas the London Councils measure counters all single-use bags.

The carrier bag group also said Defra studies show that up to 80% of households responsibly re-use their free plastic carrier bags for everything from collecting dog droppings and cat litter to bin liners, school lunches and sports kit.

Mr Turner said: “We have analysed Customs and Excise statistics which show that the consumption of plastic bags rose in the Republic of Ireland after they introduced a tax on carrier bags in 2002. In that year, Ireland consumed 26,342 tonnes of plastic bags. Last year the figure was 31,649 tonnes.

“This shows that plastic bag taxes not only don't work, they have an opposite effect to that intended. We are amazed how few politicians are bothering to do the research which is freely available to them. Some prefer to follow the green lobby even in the face of expert opinion such as that from WRAP. Such moves are not just potentially disastrous for the environment they also penalise the elderly, infirm and those without cars,” he added.