29th February 2008
Brown issues supermarket bag deadline
The prime minister has weighed in on the renewed campaign to ban free plastic bags.
Writing in today's Daily Mail, Mr Brown drew attention to his speech last November, in which he outlined his aim to "eradicate" single-use carrier bags.
"I praise those shops which have shown a moral lead already," he wrote today. "I am thinking of Ikea, which has reduced its bag use by about 95% recently, and Marks & Spencer, which just yesterday announced that it will now charge for bags."
Mr Brown has said that he wants all supermarkets to charge for bags within the next year.
However, the Conservatives have attempted to embarrass the government by revealing Whitehall 's penchant for plastic bags: a reported 1.2 million bags branded with departmental logos in the last two years.
"While Gordon Brown lectures the public on the environment, his own ministers are fuelling Britain's throw-away culture," said shadow communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles, quoted in the Times.
Yesterday, government-funded body WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) reported that retailers have seen an overall 14% reduction in the use of 'virgin' plastic for carrier bags over the last year, but that progress had been highly variable.
Writing in today's Daily Mail, Mr Brown drew attention to his speech last November, in which he outlined his aim to "eradicate" single-use carrier bags.
"I praise those shops which have shown a moral lead already," he wrote today. "I am thinking of Ikea, which has reduced its bag use by about 95% recently, and Marks & Spencer, which just yesterday announced that it will now charge for bags."
Mr Brown has said that he wants all supermarkets to charge for bags within the next year.
However, the Conservatives have attempted to embarrass the government by revealing Whitehall 's penchant for plastic bags: a reported 1.2 million bags branded with departmental logos in the last two years.
"While Gordon Brown lectures the public on the environment, his own ministers are fuelling Britain's throw-away culture," said shadow communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles, quoted in the Times.
Yesterday, government-funded body WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) reported that retailers have seen an overall 14% reduction in the use of 'virgin' plastic for carrier bags over the last year, but that progress had been highly variable.
- 21st November 2008 Official retail figures 'hide tough condition', says BRC
- 20th November 2008 Entrepreneurs 'should be school governors'
- 19th November 2008 Small businesses urged to register hazardous substances
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