On 5th October, new plastic bag charges came into force across England. This was something which was was pushed by the Liberal Democrats during the Coalition Government, but has only just come into effect.

In the last year that stats are available (2013) supermarkets handed out 8.3 BILLION plastic bags – that is an average of 300 bags per household.

Plastic bags are highly visible litter on our streets and in our countryside, they pose a threat to wildlife and their disposal contributes to our green house gas emissions. Shockingly a plastic bag can take 500 to 1,000 years to degrade.

None of the money raised by the 5p levy will be going to the Government. Supermarkets have to distribute the money collected to charitable good causes. The levy is expected to raise £730m for good causes and £60m savings a year in litter clean-up costs.

Your Lib Dem team of Councillors have proposed a motion to Bury Council asking the Council to work with our local supermarkets and charities to make sure that as much money as possible goes to local good causes in our area.

Some bags are still free, including:
– Multiple use ‘bags for life’
– Bags without handles
– Woven plastic bags
– Bags for unwrapped food
– Bags for prescription medicines
– Bags for uncooked meat
– Paper bags

Small businesses are not being forced to take part in the scheme, but can do if they wish.