Supermarkets cut back on handing out carrier bags by half

UK Supermarkets to cut back on handing out carrier bags by half

Asda, Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Somerfield, Waitrose and Tesco will give out 5m fewer bags each year (Jessica Aldred • guardian.co.uk)

Seven major supermarkets today reached an agreement with the government to halve by spring 2009 the number of single-use carrier bags being handed out in stores around the UK. The deal will see 5m fewer bags being handed out each year — enough to fill 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Asda, the Co-op, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Somerfield, Waitrose and Tesco stores in England, Wales and Northern Ireland signed up to the voluntary agreement that obliges them to halve the numbers of single use carrier bags compared with 2006 levels. They also committed to an “aspirational” target to eventually cut bag use by 70%.

Plastic Bagless Anthem

Tim Minchin’s Classic Anthem for the Unplastic Fantastic Canvas Bag

China bans plastic bags

China have announced recently to ban the usage of free plastic bags starting on June 1st, 2008. China has finally decided to act upon saving the planet! Did you know that “Chinese people use up to 3 billion plastic bags a day and the country has to refine 5 million tonnes (37 million barrels) of crude oil every year to make plastics used for packaging, according to a report on the Web site of China Trade News (www.chinatradenews.com.cn)”?

Let’s all work towards a Plastic bagless World!!

As we blindly contribute to plastic pollution of our world at an astronomic rate of 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags annually worldwide STOP for two minutes and just see how easy it can be to change this.

We favour convenience over the simple measures we could take to eliminate this wholesale disregard of our world and wildlife – and eventually our own existence – as plastic now enters our food chain.

This Blog is dedicated to identifying alternatives to the Plastic Bag and to the many ways it can be recycled. If you have any ideas or links to plastic bag recycling please add them as a comment and we will incorporate them into future posts.