LABOUR COUNCILLORS HAVE A CUNNING PLAN TO MAKE CAMBRIDGE A 'PLASTIC BAG FREE ZONE'

15 April 2008

Local Labour Councillors are calling for a citywide partnership with Cambridge retailers to end the free plastic carrier bags in the city, switching instead to reusable bags.

The initiative comes from City Labour Councillors Stuart Newbold and Miriam Lynn in a council motion at Thursday's full Cambridge City Council meeting, and would see Cambridge become a 'plastic bag free zone', with the aim of adopting reusable shopping bags across Cambridge by the end of 2009.

Under Labour's plan, the City Council would also hand out reusable 'bags for life' to residents, to raise waste awareness and make a real impact in eliminating plastic carrier bags in Cambridge.

Labour sees the move as also increasing the focus on reducing waste, and helping to increase recycling as Cambridge City Council has slipped from first to second-bottom of the recycling table of the six Cambridgeshire councils in recent years.

Cllr Stuart Newbold, Labour spokesperson on Environmental Services, said "Many city retailers including Marks and Spencer now only issue bags that are reusable. Labour wants the City Council to build a partnership to make this city - wide including retailers, major centres like the Grafton, Grand Arcade and Lion Yard, local shopping centres and concerned community groups.

"All sections of the community want a plan for Cambridge to become a 'plastic bag free zone'. Cambridge residents get through 27,000,000 bags every year, with most going straight to landfill, and these bags then take up to 400 years to degrade."

Cllr Miriam Lynn, Labour spokesperson on Recreation added: "Plastic bags are a total nuisance. They contribute to the city's serious litter problems in parks and local streets, and they are also blown into the river, threatening the wildlife in the Cam.

As a local user of Mill Road shops, I also want to see the city council back plans underway with local Mill Road retailers to switch to reusable bags. Raising awareness will also kick start efforts to get Cambridge city back up the recycling league again."