Ban the Plastic Bag Campaign Takes UK by Storm

The Daily Mail, one of the top national newspapers in the UK, launched a “banish the plastic bag” campaign on its front page last week. It included 10 pages building the case against plastic bags with articles and photos of the damage done to wildlife.

The next day supermarket chain Marks & Spencer announced it would begin charging shoppers five pence for plastic carrier bags in April. A day later, The Daily Mail announced: “Prime Minister backs banish the bag campaign and announces plans for a ban.”

In just seven days this issue has jumped to the top of the UK’s to do list. So why all the attention on plastic bags?

Why Banish the Bag?

According to Plastic Bag Economics, plastic makes up 80 percent of the volume of litter on roads, parks and beaches. It makes up 90 percent of litter in the ocean. A square mile of ocean features 46,000 pieces of plastic.

Plastic bags take decades to breakdown, whether they end up in landfill, the ocean or an incinerator. Typically a plastic bag is used for less than 20 minutes, yet will take up to 1,000 years to rot away.

Plastic bags in the ocean are life threatening for sea inhabitants—they are often mistaken for jelly fish and eaten. They can’t be digested and cause death by slow starvation or suffocation. The dead animal’s body decomposes and frees the plastic bag to roam the ocean again.

Animals affected include birds, turtles and dolphins. Some eight percent of the world’s seal population has reportedly been harmed by plastic bags.

The English Connection

In the UK over 20 billion bags a year are discarded. The UK uses more bags than any other country in the EU, and is one of few that have not yet imposed a ban on free plastic bags given away at pay points in shops. In nearby Ireland shoppers are charged six pence per plastic bag used at the sales counter, cutting their use by 90 percent in just three months.

Some areas in the UK have already taken action to ban plastic bags and change consumer attitudes. However, after The Daily Mail’s campaign, it looks like top retailers and politicians will work together to take action.

Elsewhere in the World . . .

• In March 2007, San Francisco became the first city in North America to ban the use of traditional plastic grocery bags, a move which is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 4.2 million kilograms anually
• In July 2007, all large supermarkets in the state of California were required, by law, to take back and recycle plastic shopping bags.
• The New York City Council has passed a measure requiring stores that hand out plastic bags to offer recycling facilities.
• Zanzibar banned the import and production of plastic bags in November 2006.
• Canada offers curbside collection of plastic bags.
• In Holland, Supermarkets have always charged for carrier bags, and 40 percent are recycled. Many offer customers the cardboard boxes used to deliver goods to the store.
• China is set to ban plastic bags starting in June 2008.
• In Australia, consumer groups, retailers and politicians have launched a “Say No To Carrier Bags” campaign.

Anyone in the United States can find out where to recycle plastic bags in their area using Earth 911’s recycling locator.

Nyree Ambarchian is the Marketing & Communications Officer for the Peterborough Environment City Trust in England.