Abolish Plastic Bags

There's a news story doing the rounds (see 'Supermarkets clash with Benn on plastic bags') that says that the supermarkets are upset at the government plans to impose a plastic bag tax should the supermarkets 'voluntary' code not produce results.

How did this upset manifest itself? Go on guess?.. (not - ) Suprisingly it was in the form of a threat! The government will risk losing the co-operation of the supermarkets in future voluntary agreements.

And how well has this voluntary arrangement served us? Sir Terry of Tesco said in this 2006 article in the Guardian that "Tesco is good at marketing, which can sell the concept." Meaning they could sell the concept of people moving away from plastic carriers. Bear that in mind when you read that "Tesco said its usage is down 40 per cent" (Businessgreen.com 26 June 08) I think Tesco is just good at marketing!

What 'down 40%' doesn't tell you, is that even if we had this made this reduction on day one of their 2006 pledge, then by now, they would only have given away 4.8 billion environmentally dangerous bags (and counting!) in the last 2 years.

They're doing it for our good remember. In contrast, if anyone had listed to us and Abolished Plastic Bags 2 years ago then Tesco would have given away 0, zero, zilch, no plastic bags in that time. And it wouldn't have just been Tesco, we would have taken 34 billion environmentally dangerous bags out of the system in that time in the UK.

Don't believe the hype, take action now, and shop elsewhere!

That's it...I'm moving to Banchory! (Check the blog at: http://banchoryagainstplastic.wordpress.co)

First because of the great primary school, which has just won a national award for their work on plastic bags. (see previous blog: Banchory Primary gets top award) Well Done!

Second, because not only were they campaign of the week recently, but I love this idea...'Stickers for your Steering Wheel' I quote: "So many shoppers tell us that they have left their reusable bags in the
car, we had 2,000 of these stickers produced and gave them away with
the bags. "

Brilliant!

Campaign of the week is the Banchory bags Campaign up in Scotland.

On Saturday they had a day of anti-plastic bag promotion, with volunteers giving away free 'Cleaner Greener Banchory' bags at the St. Ternan's Fair.

They've got 69 out of 73 shops to take part and many are displaying posters made by local primary school children.

It's a great campaign, with a lot of hard work going into preparing the ground to get people behind the cause. Keep up to date with their progress at: http://banchoryagainstplastic.wordpress.com

About 25 mins into last night's Springwatch Coast special on BBC 2, we were treated to a 10 min segment about polition in the seas and around our coasts caused by plastic.

Great to see the hard work of the people of Modbury recognised, and to have the plastic bag message re-inforced.

You can see the programme again on the BBCiplayer fro the next week.

www.bbc.co.uk/springwatch

Mochillas - Handmade bags

We're always getting requests to feature people's alternative products on the site, and some are better than others!

This week I was pointed towards: http://artesanias.mamancana.org

It's good to see organisations with principles - this from their 'about us' section:

"Artesanias Mamancana is a not-for-profit organisation set up to promote Colombian crafts and artisan made products.

We import hand-made artisan goods produced mainly by mothers who are the head of the household, single mothers and elder citizens who are making and selling these goods to support their families.

Mainly sourced from the regions of Guajira, Magdalena, Cordoba and Atlantico in the North of Colombia these goods are of very high quality, using techniques passed down through families for many generations.

All our profits are donated to organisations in Colombia and the UK, who are working towards greater sustainability. The main UK beneficiary is Action for Sustainable Living."

Good luck to them I say!

The great people of Modbury had a beach clean recently - collecting 2.5 tonnes of rubbish from 7 beaches.

This is what this is all about, and this is the unseen consequence for many of us.

More pictures at:
http://tinyurl.com/5nl9t

The most prolific item of waste was plastic drinks bottles, and waste is not the only environmental impact of this 'product'.

A place to start for this is:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/panorama/7247130.stm

Progress on bags is good, so lets get this lined up as the next target eh?

Our first poetic contribution to the campaign came through this week, something that has been missing from all of this plastic pottiness.

Such a good idea, we've decided to give poems their own space on the site and they have their own RSS feed, so you can be updated each time we get a new one!

You'll find them under the menu at the top of the site: Poems 

Huge congratulations to the Selkirk campaign as they claim the 'First Plastic Bag Free Town in Scotland' title.

I know lots of hard work has gone into this, and that there are other towns that were snapping at their heels.

Well done. - Now lets see if Scotland can overtake England in having the most plastic bag free towns!

Oh - and I've change their marker on the map to reflect this.