Charge on plastic carrier bags a great success story

Good news:

The number of plastic bags handed out by supermarkets in Scotland fell by 147 million last year - the first figures since a 5p charge was introduced.

The reduction came despite the levy for single-use bags only being in place for the final 11 weeks of the year.

But in England - where large shops will have to charge for plastic bags from October - 200 million more bags were used in 2014, Defra research suggested.

Northern Ireland saw usage fall by 42.6%, while Wales had a rise of 5.2%.

The fall in Scotland follows statistics released three months ago, which suggested the number of carrier bags being used by shoppers had fallen by 90%.

For more, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-33644662

Our Petition to the Scottish Government: Ban plastic carrier bags throughout Scotland...

Dear All

At long last our Petition has gone out to the Scottish Government. Oban Plastic Bag Free! sent 87 signatures to Mr Jim Mather, MSP for Argyll & Bute and Minister for Enterprise, Energy & Tourism, with the following covering letter, demanding the ban of plastic carrier bags throughout Scotland and serious action against plastic packaging in general:

17th November 2009

Mr Jim Mather MSP for Argyll & Bute
Minister for Enterprise, Energy & Tourism
31, Combie Street
Oban, Argyll, PA34 5HS

Petition to the Scottish Government to ban plastic carrier bags in Scotland and take serious action against plastic packaging in general

Dear Mr Mather

As Minister for Enterprise, Energy & Tourism it must matter to you that our environment be as clean and healthy as possible. Plastic bags and plastic waste are a blight on our environment. Small plastic particles attract toxins and enter the food chain via marine and land-based creatures. It was recently reported "that human hormone-mimicking phthalates commonly found in PVC plastics would appear to alter the brains of baby boys making them 'more feminine'"; they are known to have a serious impact on male fertility.
In view of your past positive responses to messages from Sustainable Oban and the Oban Plastic Bag Free! Initiative, I am taking the liberty of passing on to you a total of 87 signatures to a Petition to the Scottish Government to ban plastic carrier bags in Scotland and take serious action against plastic packaging in general.
We will appreciate it if you will kindly forward this petition to the Scottish Government in Edinburgh. We will appreciate it even more if you will defend this petition and help us push it through into legislation.
With many thanks and best wishes
[signature]
Margaret Powell-Joss
[co-initiator of OPBF! and Secretary, Sustainable Oban]

Enclosures

Copy to The Editor, The Oban Times, Oban

*) International Journal of Andrology, quoted in
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8361863.stm, see also http://obanplasticbagfree.blogspot.com/

Of course now we look forward to getting results.