Eight billion carrier bags are used in the UK a year, and they are causing havoc, writes Dame Jane Roberts

ON Monday I will propose a motion to Camden’s full council meeting calling on the government to do more to reduce the environmental waste caused by the over-use of plastic bags.
Camden Council – in kind conjunction with the Royal Parks – has just held the biggest Green Fair ever seen in north London – with over 15,000 people attending on Sunday. While I have been pressing the issue for some time, at the event many people came up to me asking what more we could do.
So CNJ readers, please read on so I can explain why the issue of reducing plastic bag waste is an important issue for democratically elected councillors to lead on – and I do hope that we can get cross-party support for our motion.
Let’s remember that whatever the usage of plastic bags, they don’t just decompose and disappear. They don’t really break down – they are waste products for generations and generations to come.

Dame Jane Roberts

Did you know that plastic bags account for a significant percentage of litter our street cleaners clear away on our streets? They also cause all sorts of hidden damage – I was unlucky enough to suffer from water penetration through a wall at home arising from a plastic bag that blew into the gutter and blocked the down pipe.
The figures do vary: one ball-park estimate is that factories around the world produce a staggering four trillion plastic bags in just one year (2002).
Annually it is also said that between 500 billion and one trillion plastic bags are used across the world each year – and the UK accounts for eight billion of these.
It’s a local issue because they litter our streets, easily blowing around and when finally they do break down they are dissipated into smaller and smaller toxic particles which will pollute our pets, wildlife, parks and open spaces, soil and waterways here in Camden.
It’s a global issue because most plastic bags are used in the west – although developing nations are quickly catching up in usage.
But it’s not like plastic bags have been around for a long time. They are a relatively new feature of modern life. Because of their convenience most people take them for granted.
But having lived in this area for a long time I know that stores really started using plastic bags in the late 1970s. With the growth of supermarket chains in the 1980s this figure has risen massively.
Lots of people might say that plastic bags have a real use – through convenience, or their otherwise busy lives – it is undeniable that’s the case. Yet, in my view, at the very least consumers should at least be given the option of a sustainable or biodegradable bag.
But my question to you, local businesses and the government, is: are there other alternatives? Let me show some examples of what happens in other countries:
• Ireland introduced a ‘Plas-Tax’ in March 2002 meaning customers have to pay a small levy on plastic bags.
As a result the use of plastic bags has dropped by more than 90 per cent – one billion bags – and millions of Euros have been raised to help extra recycling programmes.
• A different – more voluntary scheme – in Australia has seen almost nine-in-ten retailers say they will commit to a programme to reduce plastic bag use.
• Taiwan now requires restaurants, stores and supermarkets to charge extra for plastic bags and utensils – which has resulted in a 69 per cent drop in the use of plastic products.
• In Bangladesh a full ban on production and possession of all plastic bags was introduced after 2002. Why? Because they found that plastic items clogged drains and water-overflows and were blamed for choking the system during two monsoon floods,
If residents want this we will argue for the same or better action.
I’m not saying that Camden Council is perfect on these issues – and it’s clear how hard it is for organisations to change – but we do want to be at the forefront of promoting sustainable alternatives in what we do and are working hard to make our council better to meet this challenge.
We are proud of our record as one of London’s greenest councils – with the highest recycling rate in inner London – but want to do more.
All we are calling for is the government to give us more options to make our neighbourhoods cleaner and greener.
By doing this we, as local people, elected by you, are trying to make a difference and put some real meaning to the phrase Think Global, Act Local.

• Councillor Dame Jane Roberts is the leader of Camden Council.