Council may vote to ban free plastic carrier bags

Dec 17 2007 by Jessica Shaughnessy, Liverpool Daily Post

FREE plastic bags could be banned in Wirral to help save the environment.

The ban would mean Wirral Council would cut its free bin-bag provision and businesses across the borough will charge customers for carrier bags.

The calls made by the Liberal Democrats are expected to be passed at a council meeting tonight with the support of the joint ruling Labour party.

Cllr Gill Gardiner, Wirral’s cabinet member for environment, who has led the proposals, said: “All over the country, campaigns are forming to get rid of disposable plastic bags – one of the most visible symbols of environmental waste.

“Even when disposed of, plastic bags can take 400 to 1,000 years to degrade in our landfill sites.

“I am therefore calling upon Wirral Council to take a lead in reducing free plastic bag provision by not only ending the use of free plastic bags within the council, but also launching a Wirral-wide campaign to gain voluntary agreement between the council, business, and other interested parties to end the practice of providing free plastic bags within the whole borough.”

More than 17bn plastic bags are handed out free by supermarkets in the UK every year. And 200m of them end up as waste on the streets. The Liberal Democrat plans build upon proposals last year which led to requests to local supermarkets to cut packaging to help meet recycling targets and keep down rising landfill costs.

Cllr Gardiner said: “The public is often frustrated by the volume of packaging that can be accumulated during a simple trip to the supermarket. Government figures indicate that families now spend £470 on packaging each year.”

Last night, deputy leader of Wirral’s Labour Party Cllr Phil Davies said members will support the motion.

He said: “There is a lot of environmental pollution caused by plastic bags and if we can think of any measures to help prevent this we should support them.”

The proposals come hot on the heels of legislation being introduced by councils elsewhere in the UK to place a levy on plastic bags. Councils at Modbury, in Devon, and Brighton have already introduced schemes banning free plastic bags.

Wirral councillors will call for the Mersey Waste Disposal Authority to write to the Secretary of State requesting that the Government introduces legislation enabling councils outside London to impose a plastic bag levy.

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