Say No To Plastic Bags campaign is working

South Norfolk Council’s Say No To Plastic Bags campaign is working.

That's the verdict of former council chairman and Wymondham, Councillor Joe Mooney, who held a second summit with retailers at the council headquarters.

The meeting on Monday night was attended by nine representatives from: Cinnabar Gift Shop in Costessey, Morrisons Diss, Wymondham High School, representing the Wymondham Green Team, who have actively been campaigning to make Wymondham go plastic bag free, the East of England Co-operative Society at Long Stratton, Waitrose at Wymondham and G M Autos, Harleston.

Councillor Mooney, who launched the campaign when he was council chairman, was delighted. He said:

"There has been real progress with this campaign and retailers have seen a big reduction in the number of plastic bags issued. We have seen serious enthusiasm for the scheme and the council's leadership from participants.

"And it's working. Plastic bags are disappearing from the check-outs and you only have to wander into any high street as I do when I go shopping every week to see more and more people using alternative, long lasting and sustainable bags.

“We're going back to the days before the menace of plastic bags began blighting our town centres and countryside.

”It is great to see retailers and their customers working together as a team to advance the aims of the Say No campaign. I would urge everyone in our district to carry on with the campaign – it’s worth fighting for.”

The summit heard that:

- Fourteen shops have now gone completely plastic bag free in South Norfolk.

- Councillor Mooney has received letters of support for his campaign from HRH the Prince of Wales, and the Bishop of Norwich

- Cinnabar, a new shop, opened in March and has chosen to use a range of recyclable paper bags, rather than plastic. They report that customers are happy to use them, and many bring their own re-usable bags

- Morrisons - whose corporate aim is to reduce use of plastic bags by 25% by end of 2008 - reported that during a 10-week trial, the company saved 50m plastic bags. The store in Diss has reduced its use of plastic bags by 55%. Bags are now only given on request.

The company is running league tables of stores that have saved the most bags and they produce a monthly carrier bag bulletin.

- GM Autos in Harleston wanted to introduce a ‘no plastic bags’ policy but did not feel confident it would succeed. Julie Gilray said the campaign had given her the confidence to act and that she had noticed many shoppers in Harleston were now using long life bags.

- At Wymondham High School, Year 11 students have been most active and now plan to revisit retailers to see how the campaign is progressing. They have designed and produced a Wymondham sustainable bag, which they are looking for a retailer to distribute in the town. - The Co-op across the whole company has reduced plastic bags use by 80%. In Long Stratton, the figure is higher at 85%.

- During February to October, Waitrose as a whole saved 68m plastic bags - a 28% reduction. Mystery shoppers are now employed to check Waitrose customer services and include a question about whether the tills are free from visible plastic bags and whether cashiers promote bags for life. These results are used to score the performance of all stores.

They reported that Waitrose is aiming to achieve 50% reduction in plastic bag use by spring 2009 and are currently seeing a cumulative 2% increase in the number of bags saved month on month.

The summit broke up after over an hour, pledging to continue the campaign, and to meet again.

For details and documents relating to the campaign, including a listing of plastic bag free businesses can be found at www.wouth-norfolk.gov.uk.

Web links

• Say No To Plastic bags

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