Plastic bag use has plummeted in England since the introduction of a 5p charge last year, under the previous coalition government.
The number of single-use plastic bags used by shoppers in England has fallen by more than 85%. More than 7bn bags were handed out by seven main supermarkets in the year before the charge but this has been reduced to just over 500m in the first six months after the charge has been introduced.
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said:
We always said the test of this policy would be by the amounts of bags that are cut from public consumption and the funds raised for charities – on both these tests this policy has passed.
I want to pay tribute to (Baroness) Kate Parminter who fought tirelessly for this policy and today’s figures are a testament to her. It is down to Liberal Democrats in Government that this policy happened – we announced it at our 2013 conference and we are now seeing what a huge impact it has had.
The facts are simple; single use bags blight our towns and countryside, they trap and suffocate wildlife, and plastic bags take hundreds of years to degrade. These figures show that this policy is starting to stop that.
In Bury the Liberal Democrats worked hard to get the Council to be more proactive in ensuring that the money raised by the sales of 5p bags would end up in local charities such as this scheme which distributes the money raised at Tesco from bag sales.
Fantastic results: The next campaign must be for the eradication of the wasteful & often unnecessary plastic packaging of a wide range of products such as vegetables, and the double and sometimes triple packing of products.using plastics. As an example why do we need tomatoes and mushrooms offered in plastic trays. The Asian shops in Cheetham hill manage to serve such items without this packaging. A radical rethink is necessary.