Alliance welcomes green pledge scheme for shoppers

2.18.16pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 9th Oct 2006

Alliance Environment Spokesperson, Stewart Dickson

Alliance Environment Spokesperson, Stewart Dickson, has welcomed a scheme to get adults to pledge to use alternatives to plastic bags. The initiative was introduced by the Henderson Group and involves over 400 Spar and Vivo shops asking children to get adults to sign a pledge card saying they will stop using plastic bags.

The Carrickfergus Councillor stated: "This is a great idea and I hope it will encourage people to become more environmentally friendly.

"Alliance has long campaigned for people to cut down their plastic bag usage and we have demanded that a bag levy be introduced by government to help protect the environment.

"It is great to see that shops are now introducing new ways of helping people go green. I hope that this scheme has an impact across Northern Ireland. Now government must meet people half way and introduce a plastic bag levy to ensure that everything possible is done to help the environment.

"When a levy on plastic bags was implemented in the Republic of Ireland, it reduced plastic bag usage by 90% and provided over £93 million for environmental schemes. These statistics illustrate that the introduction of this legislation in Northern Ireland would have an extremely positive effect on the environment."

ENDS