Lib Dems critical of TESCO's plans for plastic bags
August 9, 2006 12:00 AM
Tesco Plastic Bags.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Margaret Fearnley has criticised Tesco's plans to make its plastic bags biodegradable from September as just a veneer of green respectability to spruce up its socially responsible image.
"Over seventeen billion plastic bags are given out by supermarkets in Britain each year. That's enough plastic in twenty years to cover the whole of England" says Councillor Fearnley. "Tesco may have acknowledged the problem of excessive plastic bags, they hand out four billion carrier bags at their 2,000 stores nationwide, but their solution suggests that they don't understand it. Biodegradable plastic bags, by creating greenhouse gases within landfill sites, in themselves can have an adverse environmental impact which may be even more of a problem than the waste itself."
Friends of the Earth have branded the move as "typical of the greenwash" that Tesco has been churning out over recent months. Even if they meet the target to reduce the number of bags being used, Tesco will still be handing out three billion plastic bags a year. And this is just a drop in the ocean compared to the mountains of packaging waste the chain creates.
"We all need to try to reduce the need to throw away plastics. For example, take a reusable shopping bag to the supermarket or corner shop, or re-use the bags you were given last time. I use cotton "carries" which I got from Germany and I don't accept a bag if I don't need one. Every year, an estimated 17½ billion plastic bags are given away by supermarkets. This is an astonishing 290 bags for every person in the UK" says Councillor Fearnley. "It is up to us all to reduce the number that we use."
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