“..Supermarkets banish the plastic bag..”
“..Britain’s biggest supermarkets say they are on course to reduce by half their use of plastic bags by Easter.
Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose are making progress in cutting the number of free bags handed out to shoppers in a victory for The Independent campaign highlighting the environmental threat posed by packaging.
Plastic bags are made using oil and take hundreds of years to degrade in landfill sites, often after a single use.
An estimated 13 billion plastic bags are handed out by UK retailers every year.
In February last year, six trade associations and 22 leading shops agreed to cut the use of plastic bags by 25 per cent by the end of this year.
The initiative was agreed with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the public-funded anti-waste organisation Wrap, amid discussion of whether the Government should ban free carrier bags.
Supermarkets have moved free bags behind the till and put up signs urging the use of “bags for life”.
Reporting their progress to MPs this week, the stores said they had succeeded in reducing the number of bags..
..and would go beyond their original pledge..”
go to source/story>>Supermarkets banish the plastic bag - Green Living, Environment - The Independent