This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Action on carrier bags
28/02/2007
UK retailers have agreed to reduce the overall impact of their carrier bags by 25 per cent by the end of 2008.
The move comes in a joint initiative involving representatives from all areas of the retail sector and in response to a concerted call for action from Environment ministers in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
They have agreed to support the campaign together with the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) which manages waste prevention programmes for the four governments.
The agreement gives flexibility to allow individual retailers to respond to the agreement in ways that are best suited to their customers and type of trading, and recognises that a number are already addressing this issue through a variety of approaches.
Retailers will be reducing the environmental impact of bags by:
- Encouraging customers to reduce significantly the number of carrier bags they use
- Reducing the impact of each carrier bag (e.g. by using less plastic or incorporating recycled content
- Enabling the recycling of more carrier bags where appropriate
There will also be further work to encourage carrier bag re-use.
Environment Minister Ross Finnie said:
"I want to reduce the amount of waste we produce. Stopping the unnecessary use of bags is one small but significant step to achieve this
"I welcome today's commitment to reduce the environmental impact of bags. This forms another part of our ongoing work to get people to reduce waste and unnecessary packaging, reuse resources and recycle where appropriate.
"It's clear that by working together, retailers, Government and consumers can all reduce the amount of waste and help the environment."
Fiona Moriarty, Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said:
"Scottish retailers are already rewarding re-use, promoting 'bags for life', using and developing alternative materials and trialling bigger bags that carry more shopping. They want to take that further.
"Twenty-five per cent is an ambitious target for the industry as a whole. It will require the Scottish Executive's support in encouraging customers to reduce, re-use, recycle and take an improved approach to household waste management."
Each signatory is now working with WRAP to identify a baseline figure against which the reduction in environmental impact can be measured and reported. Progress will be monitored jointly by the retailer signatories, government and WRAP and a review will be completed before the end of 2008 to see what would be required to make further reductions by 2010.
WRAP director Phillip Ward explained:
"This initiative builds on WRAP's broader work with the retail sector to reduce packaging waste. Where there is genuine commitment, flexible voluntary arrangements like this can be successful in bringing change."
Background:
Today's agreement covers carrier bags provided by retailers: both plastic bags and paper bags.
Around 13 billion carrier bags are used by consumers in the UK each year, but this is the first time a joint approach to tackle the issue has been found. The initiative involves representatives from all areas of the retail sector, including supermarkets, department stores, fashion, DIY and convenience stores.
Work on carrier bags forms part of wider work on waste prevention.
WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) works in partnership to encourage and enable businesses and consumers to be more efficient in their use of materials and recycle things more often. This helps to minimise landfill, reduce carbon emissions and improve our environment.
The Scottish Waste Awareness Group (SWAG) co-ordinates Waste Aware Scotland. Waste Aware Scotland is a national campaign that aims to change public attitudes and behaviour towards waste. Local campaigns are being run to encourage people to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. There are over 80 Waste Aware campaigns currently running across Scotland.
Joint statement:
In response to Ministers from Defra, the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Office, and in the context of widespread public interest, the UK Retail sector has agreed to take action and is proposing to set itself a shared objective with the government and WRAP to reduce the environmental impact of carrier bags. This will be achieved via the following routes:
Further discussion will be required to agree a baseline figure and appropriate unit of measurement to report annually on meeting reduction targets. This will need to take account of reusable bag initiatives and the use of recycled materials in preference to virgin.
The circumstances in different parts of the retail sector vary and so a uniform target reduction for all sectors will not be appropriate. Store location, format, frequency of visit, product range and average spend per shopping visit are all factors which have an impact on the potential for reducing the environmental impact of bags.
In becoming a signatory to this statement, retailers have agreed:
- To work jointly with government and WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Programme) to monitor the environmental impact of carrier bags and to agree a baseline figure from which to measure reduction
- To work with the above parties to reduce the overall environmental impact by 25% by the end of 2008
- To review experiences by the end of 2008 in order to determine what would be required in order to make a further reduction by 2010
The following retailers have signed up:
ASDA
Boots Group Plc
Co-operative Group
DSG Retail Limited (Dixons, Currys and PC World
Early Learning Centre
E H Booths and Co Ltd
Halfords Plc
Home Retail Group (Argos, Homebase and PC World)
John Lewis Partnership (John Lewis and Waitrose)
Marks & Spencer
The Musgrave Group Plc
Next Group Plc
Primark Stores Ltd
Sainsburys Supermarkets Ltd
Somerfield Group
Spar (UK) Ltd
Tesco
Travis Perkins (Wickes)
United Co-operatives Ltd
Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc
Association of Convenience Stores
British Retail Consortium
Federation of Small Businesses Scotland
NIIRTA (Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association)
Packaging and Industrial Films Association
Scottish Grocers Federation