Hartlepools Dump the Bag Campaign

For those of you who are old enough, cast your mind back 30 or so years and think of the main changes that have taken place to the environment. Even in the 70s people considered that Britain had a litter problem but in those days they were largely talking about discarded sweet wrappers, cigarette packets and glass bottles. Ask what the main litter problem is these days and the answer would undoubtedly be plastic bags from retail stores, chiefly Supermarkets and food packaging from fast food outlets.

Imagine no plastic carrier bags and no fast-food packaging and it would seem that 90% of today's litter would disappear. Studies have shown that in truth only 1% of visible litter consists of plastic carrier bags but when you consider that some 13 billion plastic carrier bags are issued each year from retail outlets with each taking up to 1,000 years to decompose then it's little wonder that they seem to follow us wherever we go. They are seen on the beach, tangled in the branches of trees and on fences, in woodlands, gardens and on the grass verges of roads and motorways. They are even seen occasionally in litter bins (sic).

Marks and Spencer recently announced its intention to charge 5p for every plastic bag it issues with the money going to an environmental charity while all of the big 4 Supermarkets, responding to environmental concerns, have various schemes in place to reduce plastic bag usage.

Slowly but surely, individual campaigners and a small number of councils are introducing schemes to ban the use of plastic bags within towns and villages. Even Jersey is now considering an island-wide ban on the use of plastic carrier bags.

So today we are challenging both Hartlepool Borough Council and Local Supermarkets and Retail Stores to put the town at the forefront of the movement to remove the ubiquitous plastic bag from our local environment by asking them to work together to achieve a complete ban on the issuing of plastic carrier bags by the end of 2010.

In march of this year, we will be writing to all Hartlepool Borough Council Councillors asking for their support and we are launching an on-line petition to enable members of the general public to also show their support.

The supermarkets all have various schemes already in place to reduce the usage of plastic bags but we're saying that even those schemes are not enough and that they need to go further. Indeed, all of the major Supermarkets have shown themselves to be very cooperative when approached by other councils within the UK with similar schemes. A declaration by the Council that it will no longer accept their use after 2010 will, we believe, work wonders to focus minds.

Did You Know?

Some 13billion plastic bags are give away free to shoppers each year and take 1,000 years to decay.
40% of UK Homes have at least 40 plastic bags stored away
1% of visible litter in the UK is plastic carrier bags
ASDA's current usage of plastic carrier bags is 2.2 billion per year
A trial by M & S charging 5p per bag in 50 of its stores led to a reduction in plastic bag usage of 70%. The company is set to roll out the scheme to all stores with the money raised going to environmental charity Groundwork which provides green spaces in neighbourhoods.
Ireland introduced a tax on plastic bags of 22cents (about 17p) in 2002 which led to a reduction in use. However, sale of bin liners subsequently rose.
Supermarket TESCO gave away 3 billion plastic bags last year
ASDA offer a 5p plastic Bag-for-Life which is replaced for free if damaged.
TESCO offer club points to customers who re-use plastic bags.

To get the campaign started, we're offering 10 free green bags-for-life to 10 of our visitors. To enter the draw simply email your name and address to bagforlife@high-tax-hartlepool.co.uk before the 31st March 2008. The first 10 names drawn out of the hat will each receive a free green bag-for-life.

Is It Time to Dump The Plastic Bag?