Drive to reduce plastic bag use

A COUNCIL is launching a drive to discourage shops from providing plastic carrier bags for their customers.

Wealden District Council wants the number of bags used reduced.

Cllr Roy Galley said the UK used nine billion plastic carrier bags a year, which meant that up to 100,000 tonnes of plastic were being thrown away each year.

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He added: 'The average person uses 300 plastic carrier bags a year which, if they are not recycled, end up in landfill sites.'

There was widespread support for the motion with councillors agreeing that a key part of any campaign to discourage plastic bag use was to persuade members of the public to say no to plastic bags when offered them in shops.

Instead they can either reuse existing plastic bags or take their own cloth and canvas bags with them when they go when they go shopping.

A number of supermarkets in the Wealden area have introduced recycling facilities for plastic bags in their stores.

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The council also aims to encourage local supermarkets to lobby their own suppliers to persuade them to produce less wasteful packaging.

Wealden hopes to work together with all local authorities in East Sussex in an attempt cut down on plastic carrier bags.