Helping the environment, its all in the bag

12.32.56pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 7th Aug 2006

Alliance Antrim Councillor, Alan Lawther

Alliance Party Antrim Councillor, Alan Lawther, has demanded that government introduce a 'plastic bag tax' to help protect the environment. Cllr Lawther's request comes as Tesco launches a scheme to reward customers that bring their own shopping bags.

Alan Lawther said: "The government must introduce a levy on plastic bags, similar to the measure in place in the Republic of Ireland.

"Government must use such legislation to encourage people to re-use plastic bags in order to help the environment. There are two main ways which a plastic bag tax would have a positive effect. Firstly, it would reduce unsightly plastic bag littering and secondly, fewer chemicals would be released into the environment if less plastic bags were being created.

The Alliance Councillor concluded: "After the levy was introduced in the Republic of Ireland, it cut plastic bag usage by 90% and also helped provide over £93 million for environmental projects. These statistics show that the introduction of such legislation in Northern Ireland would have a massively positive impact on the environment."

ENDS