Warwickshire News Mine

More than 250 businesses have pledged to do their bit for the environment and go carrier bag free for a week, and the launch of the week on Saturday was greeted with huge support in Rugby town centre.

Today marks the start of Recycle Week nationally, and throughout the week the residents of Rugby are being asked to help Rugby go carrier bag free.

The call went up on Saturday for everyone to ‘Say No to Plastic Bags’.

A survey of businesses by the Rugby BID Company has found that the town’s shops and supermarkets hand out about half a million plastic bags each and every week.

Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “The average carrier bag is used for just 12-20 minutes, and 13 billion of them are used in the UK each year. The work underway in Rugby to raise awareness of the scale of this problem is extremely welcome.”

In a bid to help as many people as possible to go carrier bag free in their everyday lives, Warwickshire County Council, Rugby Borough Council and Rugby BID Company are holding events throughout the week-long campaign offering shoppers advice and free reusable bags.

Cllr Heather Timms, Rugby Borough Council’s Sustainable Environment Portfolio Holder, joined representatives from Warwickshire County Council and Rugby Borough Council in the heart of the town on Saturday to launch the week-long appeal.

She said: “Plastic bags may seem like just a small part of the challenge we face, but they are a very visual reminder of just how wasteful we can all be. Plastics do not biodegrade, and with the world producing two million tones of plastic per year (of which 96 per cent is not recycled), action really does need to be taken now.

“People can really play a part here in making a difference and ‘saying no’ when offered a plastic bags in shops.”

Many high street stores and supermarkets are recognising the need to go plastic bag free, offering reusable options, and Marks and Spencer announced earlier this month that they will be charging 5p for all plastic bags issued in their food halls.

Mark Short, Rugby Marks and Spencer Store Manager, said: “We are charging 5p for single use carrier bags, in line with the rest of the country’s stores. This is a major step towards Marks and Spencer’s commitment to reducing carrier bag usage by a third.”

Fellow Rugby retailers Clare Gregory, Adams Kids Store Manager in Rugby, and the Managing Director of outdoor store White and Bishop, Steve Moseley, joined Mark in supporting a plastic bag free Rugby.

Clare said: “We heard about this through Rugby BID and contacted head office, who were very supportive and recognised that this was a good cause to support.

“We’re noticing a new generation of people coming into our shop who question the use of plastic bags and people are starting to recognise the stores who are doing something about their bag use. We’re already now asking all our customers if they would like a bag or not. Our head office is local, so you never know, maybe this could roll out to other stores.”

Steve added: “Many of our customers are already very environmentally aware and we have responded by offering clothes made from cotton and recycled materials. We are totally supportive of this and will be asking people if they really need a bag from now, and will not have any bags on show during the week.”

About 50,000 reusable bags are on offer to Rugby shoppers this week.

Robin Richter, Director of Rugby BID Company, said: “I’m delighted to see so many Rugby businesses supporting this worthwhile initiative. One of the benefits of the Business Improvement District is bringing the trading community together to be able to act in campaigns such as this.”

For more information see http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/plasticbags.

Link to WCC