Public Servant Lifestyle

A high street supermarket plan to reduce the plastic bags it dishes out has been hailed a success, but what else can be done to reduce wasteful packing, asks the LGA.

High street supermarket Tesco have announced that their incentive scheme to slash the number of carrier bags used by shoppers – launched in August - has already resulted in an unprecedented drop. The supermarket reports that it issued 1million points as rewards to customers who have chosen not to use a new carrier bag in the first three days of the scheme.

Store staff across the UK have reported everything from wheeled shopper bags to designer handbags and plastic crates being used to carry shopping away from stores instead of carrier bags.

Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Group Corporate and Legal Affairs Director for Tesco said: "We hoped the ‘green’ Clubcard scheme would catch the imagination of our customers but we've been bowled over by the reaction. This scheme is the first time that UK shoppers have been financially rewarded for not using carrier bags. The results so far show that this approach works and that people want to do their bit for the environment, especially if it is made easy for them."

Savings

The move will mean Tesco’s Clubcard holders - more than 13 million UK households – will receive points that can be saved up and traded for savings for every bag they don’t use. Tesco haven’t restricted the scheme to its own carrier bags, shoppers can re-use any other retailers' bags and still add the points to their Tesco Clubcard.

Commenting on Tesco’s scheme to cut the number of plastic bags issued annually Councillor Jim Harker - Vice Chair of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Environment Board - said: “It’s a step in the right direction but all supermarkets need to do much more by cutting down on the unnecessary packaging of goods. The Local Government Association has outlined a four point plan which will help supermarkets, shoppers and councils work together to cut the rising levels of waste.

“Millions of tonnes of unnecessary waste packaging is being thrown out which costs tax payers millions each year to throw away. Retailers may say that they are responding to their customers’ wishes to have goods packaged but they also have a duty to their customers to cut the amount of waste produced to help save taxpayers money, cut emissions and reduce the amount of landfill taken up by unnecessary wrapping.

Discretionary Powers

“Councils must also be given the discretionary powers to help encourage people to take more responsibility for the way they throw away their rubbish.”

The LGA four point plan looks like this:

Give councils new discretionary powers to charge households directly for the waste they throw away, with reduced rates for less waste. Then the polluter pays and behaviour changes

Make producer responsibility mean producer responsibility, by ensuring local authorities are fully recompensed for recovering packaging, WEEE and batteries. Producers/consumers should pay, not the general tax payer. A visible fee should be used where appropriate

Take strong action on disposable, single-use items, like disposable nappies, to send a message to consumers

Close the funding gap: the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 must ensure councils have the funding they need to deliver our obligations under European Directives

Tesco expects the number of green points awarded to customers to keep growing as news of the scheme spreads. The results give an interesting insight into which UK regions are using the fewest new bags. In the opening days of the campaign Tesco customers from London were awarded the most green points, closely followed by shoppers from Wales and the South West. For the same period customers who received the fewest green points have been from Northern Ireland and Newcastle.

However, not everyone is convinced that supermarket's are going far enough to address the problems of plastic carriers, as a part of wider packaging issues. Sandra Bell - from Environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth - commented: "Even if it meets its 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.

"What is more, Tesco boasts that it is making its bags degradable, but this is not really an environmentally friendly option. These bags will still be made from plastic and therefore place demands on oil resources. Until it sets ambitious targets for reducing the mountains of food packaging that it is responsible for it cannot claim to be making a serious commitment to tackling waste"

Shoppers involved in the Tesco scheme will see how many ‘green’ points they have earned when they receive their Clubcard statements in the post.

Interest in an 'eco' tax on plastic carriers in the UK has started up following the carrier bag taxes at all outlets selling or giving away bags since 2002 in the Republic of Ireland. Questions have also been asked in the Scottish Parliament, where a call has been made for legislation to oblige local authorities to introduce Ireland-style bag taxes. The thinking behind all of this is to reduce the throw-away culture that currently exists with regards to bags - encouraging consumers and retailers to think about the waste of resources and potential for rubbish creation of continued unlimited plastic bag giveaways.

In 2002 when the ban in the Irish Republic came into force, the the Environment Ministry had estimated a figure of 1.2 billion free plastic bags being handed out each year. One of the results of the ban was that following the introduction of a levy per bag the numbers in ciculation came down drastically - as presumably consumers and retailers had to think of the cost to their pocket for each bag and either re-use existing bags or supply their own reusable shopping bags. Five months after the levy was first introduced the BBC reported that their use had already been cut by over 90% and that the millions of euros raised in revenue by the levy had been earmarked for environmental projects in the country.

Around The World

Bombay Council in India banned plastic bags in 2001 - with the intention of preventing both the littering of streets and the clogging of the city's sewer system. Traders at the city's vegetable and other markets now hand out recycled - and biodegradable - paper bags to customers

Taiwan banned plastic bags in October 2001 after facing a situation where an astonishing 16 million were being handed out daily across the country

The Irish Republic introduced a 15 cent levy on each plastic bag in 2002, which had resulted in a 90% reduction their use just 5 months later.

More information available in Supermarkets, Incentives & Rewards