March 2007
Is Enough Being Done To Reduce Plastic Bag Use?
Although carrier bags today use 70% less plastic than they did 20 years ago, most are still made from polyethylene, a kind of plastic which is non-degradable and can take up to 100 years to break down.
For every 1bn plastic bags produced, 9,000 tonnes of plastic is used and 18,000 tonnes of CO2 produced. In the UK, consumers use an estimated 10bn plastic bags - 167 per person - a year, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Supermarkets and other retailers have begun making efforts to reduce their consumers’ use of plastic bags, as part of their efforts to increase their green credentials. For example, Tesco offer "green" clubcard points to customers who reuse bags, the Co-op produces biodegradable bags, and J Sainsbury has reduced the amount of new plastic used in each of its bags. Ikea have introduced a 10p charge for carrier bags and have even made a corporate pledge to reduce plastic bag consumption by 70%. Another scheme is ‘Bags for life', which have become increasingly common-place, with supermarkets funding research into the development of alternative materials and trailing bigger bags that carry more shopping. But do their efforts really go far enough?
Whereas pledges to reduce plastic bag use in store have been made by many retailers, such pledges do not go as far as to include plastic bag use for online delivery services. A recent survey by The Guardian Online, ordering 27 items from each of the four largest supermarkets, showed poor results. The average number of items per bag varied from 2.7 items for a Sainsbury’s delivery to 4 items per bag for a Waitrose delivery. Even withstanding the ‘health and safety’ reasons sited for such spare packaging, it is clear that much more can be done, even if this merely involves using 'bags for life' or developing a proper use-and-return scheme?
Some faith has been restored in UK retailers as they have agreed to cut the environmental impact of the carrier bags they give out by 25% nationwide by the end of 2008. This voluntary agreement includes six trade associations and 22 high street and supermarket chains, among them Tesco, Next and Boots. Impressively, this initiative could reduce CO2 emissions by 58,500 tonnes a year.
The firms involved can choose their own way to reduce the impact of the plastic and paper bags they give out. Some may encourage customers to reduce the number of bags they use - currently an average of three or four on every shopping trip, while others may opt to use less material and/or more recycled material in the production of bags. Alternatively, they may choose to provide better recycling facilities for the bags.
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) and the government are working together to set baseline figures against which to measure future reductions, and the government is expected to offer further support to this programme as well as take an improved approach to household waste management.
However, environmental groups say a voluntary initiative is not enough to persuade shoppers to give up their bags, and support a tax similar to that introduced in Ireland five years ago. The €0.15 (10p) tax on every bag saw the number taken by shoppers fall from 1.2bn a year to 85m. Although that number has started rising again, it remains well below pre-tax figures. Advocates of such a tax cite not only the success of cutting down waste, but also that it has increased awareness in environmental issues, creating a greener shopper in the process.
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