County votes to push for greener bags (From Salisbury Journal)

County votes to push for greener bags

3:09pm Tuesday 8th April 2008 in

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THIS year's budget included a promise to introduce tax on single-use carrier bags if moves aren't made towards environmentally-friendly polices by next year, and Hampshire County Council has resolved to lead the way in the "green" direction.

The council voted on Thursday to support a motion to push the public sector, including manufacturers, producers and retailers and local government, to reduce waste going to landfill sites and to discuss with supermarkets changes to eliminate non-biodegradable plastic bags.

Cllr Alan Dowden, who brought forward the motion, said: "I am pleased because it will encourage district councils as well as industry to increase their recycling. There is an obligation now for district councils to improve recycling rates and to do more to assist the public, working with the county council."

The amount of plastic waste generated annually in the UK is estimated to be nearly three million tonnes and because most plastics are non-biodegradable they take hundreds of years to break down, although no-one is sure how long as plastics haven't been around for long enough.

As chancellor Alistair Darling's budget highlighted, the issue of the disposal of plastics and of landfill space is a growing concern and, although most supermarkets already offer resuable carrier bags or incentives to re-use plastic carriers, the uptake is not as high as the government would like.

Cllr Dowden said: "There are cost effective alternatives that are biodegradable and are compostable which are sustainable.

"They are made from renewable resources and they are user-friendly and hygienic.

"Plastic bags also are responsible for killing one million sea creatures each year.

"Until national government introduce legislation to ban plastic bags it is left to the people to seek that supermarkets use biodegradable and compostable bags within their stores."