Anti-bag campaign dismissed as cynical ‘greenwash’

The Carrier Bag Consortium (CBC) and the Packaging and Films Association (Pafa) have attacked an anti-bag campaign for its “unfounded” environmental claims.

The industry bodies say that the ‘Break the Bag Habit’ campaign, backed by Keep Britain Tidy, the Marine Conservation Society and the Council for the Protection of Rural England, is a cynical ploy aimed at justifying a bag tax which would generate funds to fill a hole in charity income left by reduced Government grants and falling public donations.

The four organisations that formed ‘Break the Bag Habit’ have calling on Westminster to reduce litter and waste by requiring retailers to introduce a small charge on all single-use bags. In response the CBC and Pafa have written to all UK MPs and major UK retailers pointing out the flaws in the latest campaign and urging them to stick to the voluntary code of practice.

“The rigorous Environment Agency Life Cycle Analysis (SC 030148) clearly demonstrates that alternatives to the lightweight plastic bag require far more of the earth’s precious resources to produce and have far higher impacts across a life cycle. We believe this new campaign is a blatant misrepresentation of the facts contained in this report and by targeting carrier bags diverts attention and resources from the macro- environmental issues we face,” the two industry bodies say in their joint letter.

“We are particularly surprised at the about turn from Keep Britain Tidy whose statistical surveys have constantly reinforced the insignificant impacts of carrier bags on the environment,” said Barry Turner Pafa CEO. “Why is Keep Britain Tidy targeting carrier bags when surveys show they represent just 0.03% of littered items in our environment?”

Paul Marmot, chairman of the CBC, also condemned the ‘Break the Bag Habit’ campaign. “Good environmental practice is about reducing impacts, reusing resources and recycling at the end of life.

“The plastic carrier bag offers all of these routes to becoming the most environmentally acceptable solution for carrying goods home because it has the lowest impacts in production and transportation, is re-used by around 80% of households and can easily be recycled using more than 5,000 collection points at our supermarkets” he said.

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