Liberal Democrats celebrate plastic bag success! (Suffolk County Council Liberal Democrats)

Suffolk County Council Liberal Democrats <info@suffolkcclibdems.org.uk>

Liberal Democrats celebrate plastic bag success!

January 2, 2008 11:49 AM

Liberal Democrats celebrated gaining full council support for their campaign against plastic bags. In a motion to Suffolk County Council's Full Council meeting on 13th December, Liberal Democrats proposed that the county council takes the lead in persuading both retailers and consumers that Suffolk should be free of plastic bags.

The have also called on the Government to go further on their policy and consider ways to reduce plastic carrier bag usage.

Libdems are also urging people to make a New Year resolution and pledge to 'kick the habit' online - www.kickthehabit.wordpress.com - You can sign up and say you'll stop using plastic bags in the New Year and leave hints and tips for those who are trying to kick the habit.

Group Leader Cllr Kathy Pollard said, "I'm very pleased that Suffolk County Council has seen the sense in our proposals. Plastic bags have been very much in the public eye recently and this seems like an excellent time to capture that mood and push for a plastic carrier bag free Suffolk.

Now is the time for the County Council to lead the way in persuading both retailers and consumers that making the switch to fabric, reusable bags is the right thing to do. Officers across the county council, and other authorities, have begun some good work promoting the use of reusable bags, in schools for. What the county now needs though is political leadership, political inspiration and political aspiration to move this campaign forward to success. Liberal Democrats will be campaigning to make Suffolk plastic bag free by 2010."

Fellow Liberal Democrat Councillor David Wood added, "Across the country we have seen many innovative schemes, both from consumers such as the lady in Mowbrey who persuaded her village's shops to make the switch from plastic bags, to the many schemes retailers have begun to implement - the Tesco clubcard scheme for example.

In London we saw recently the councils of London ask for the power the levy a charge on plastic bags, such as they have done in Ireland and in Ipswich, the Borough has launched a series of products under the Choose2Reuse label - such as reusable bags, will be banning the use of plastic bags within its own services and is looking into voluntary agreements with retailers to reduce plastic bag usage."