Gardiner says Executive should follow Prime Minister’s lead over Plastic Bags
Ulster Unionist Environment Spokesman, Sam Gardiner MLA, has welcomed the intervention of Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the supermarket plastic bags issue.
“I first called for a tax on plastic bags three years ago and I am delighted that the Prime Minister has now described plastic shopping bags as ‘one of the most visible symbols of environmental waste and every year more than 13billion were distributed - more than 10 bags a week for every household’ and made their eradication part of his environmental policy.”
“Supermarkets have already agreed to cut the environmental impact of plastic bags by a quarter over the next year but I understand that Mr Brown has called for talks with the retail sector in a new effort to push these plans forward.”
“I would like to see our Executive taking some action on this but, like all their decisions, this seems to be very slow in coming.”