Taxing plastic bags the only way to eliminate them - say Greens
20 October 2007
A Green Party motion to Brighton and Hove City Council, which called for a 20p levy on the use of plastic bags was highjacked by Tories who, at the last minute, called for their elimination.Tories run the city council and so their amendment was passed and now some shop keepers are complaining that their businesses will suffer.
Green Cllr Amy Kennedy, who tabled the original motion, has attacked the Tories as impractical opportunists.
"The levy was designed to change people's habits and not as a revenue generator. In fact any revenues would have been used for environmental initiatives," she said. "Simply calling for the elimination of plastic bags will not get rid of a single one of the 17.5 billion we use each year in Britain. When the Irish introduced a levy it changed people's behaviour. Use was reduced by 90% and, most importantly, it has altered the attitude of the shop owners.
"The Tories may have hijacked the bandwagon, but as with so much of their recent conversion to the environmental cause, their approach is simply niaive and impractical."
"While shoppers remained hooked on plastic bags there needs to be a stick to ween them off, as well as an incentive on the shop owners, who are acting like pushers feeding the public's plastic bag habit. A levy is the only real answer and Greens will continue to press the case."
Notes to editors:
Further press information: Geoffrey Bowden, Brighton & Hove Green Party, External Communications Coordinator, 07958 682683.[ENDS]
