Downing Street Says » Plastic Bags

» Friday, February 29, 2008

Plastic Bags

Asked what the Prime Minister was going to do to stop Government departments spending money on millions of plastic bags, the PMS replied that the point here was about plastic bags being used in Government marketing campaigns for example and that the COI already had a procurement system in place that aimed to reduce carbon emissions and other waste such as plastic bags. Following the Prime Minister’s announcement today we could expect that any use of such single-use plastic bags for these campaigns would be reduced in line with his aims for the wider business community.

Asked if the Government was putting figures on this, the PMS replied that she did not have those to hand, and that people should check with the COI for details.

Asked for any details on how the Prime Minister intended to move forward on the idea of getting supermarkets to use less plastic bags, as there was a suggestion that there could be legislation in the next month or two, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister had set out in his article that we were already looking at various schemes around the world and how effective they were, as well as the voluntary schemes that were already in place in the UK. We would work towards whichever specific policy did that best, but she would not be pre-empting future decisions that would be taken on this.

Asked if the Government thought there should be a much wider reduction in plastic packaging in supermarkets on fruit and vegetables for example, the PMS replied that DEFRA were already working with retailers on packaging, to look at how we could reduce waste from that particular source.

Asked if something on this would appear in the Climate Change Bill, the PMS replied that she was not going to pre-empt future decisions. We were looking at the schemes and their effectiveness, but as the Prime Minister said, he was prepared to take strong measures to ensure that waste from plastic bags was reduced.

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