Local Euro MP welcomes Tesco's move to make its plastic carrier bags degradable' as a move in the right direction

10.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 11th May 2006

Local Euro MP, Diana Wallis, has welcomed Tesco's announcement yesterday that all its carrier bags will be degradable from September as a move in the right direction.

The Liberal Democrat MEP launched a campaign last year to tax plastic carrier bags as a way of reducing their numbers across the region.

Diana Wallis said:

"It is estimated that in Yorkshire & the Humber region alone about one billion plastic bags are distributed every year.

"A small tax introduced in Ireland in 2002 has been a huge success, encouraging people to reuse bags without creating waste. Other countries are now following suit. The money raised could be used specifically to pay for environmental and recycling projects.

"Although I am very pleased that the Liberal Democrats campaign has affected Tesco to make this move in the right direction I would still like to see a tax on plastic bags.

"Plastic bags litter the environment, pollute our seas and cause the death of birds and other animals as a result.

"The government should look again at introducing some form of plastic bag tax which will make supermarkets and consumers think twice before they give away and use plastic bags in the first place. The supermarket chain, Aldi, already successfully makes a small charge for its carrier bags."

Notes

Launch of the 'tax the bag campaign in Leeds: www.dianawallismep.org.uk/news/293.html

Campaigning in Wakefield www.dianawallismep.org.uk/news/341.html

According to the BBC website the bags Tesco plans to introduce break down in as little as 60 days into materials such as carbon dioxide and water with no harmful residue, unlike plastic bags.

The firm hopes a billion fewer plastic bags a year will be used in a bid for it to be more environmentally-friendly.

The Co-op first introduced degradable bags in 2002 and Sainsbury's have trialled compostable bags.