26/02/2009 - Carrier bag use slashed by 26%
The amount of carrier bags handed out by the UK's leading high street shops and supermarkets has been cut by 26% since 2006, according to waste reduction agency Wrap.
The move has seen retailers reduce the "environmental impact" of carrier bags by 40% by reducing the number of bags handed out, increasing recycling and reducing the weight of bags.
A voluntary target to reduce the environmental impact of plastic bags by 25% by the end of 2008 has been met by a reduction in bag numbers alone, Wrap said.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned last February that the Government was ready to force shops to reduce use of plastic bags if they did not take steps voluntarily to do so.
The Climate Change Act included powers to allow the Government to impose a charge on single-use bags, if action was not taken to reduce the 13.4 billion bags given out to consumers in 2006. The latest data from Wrap show that the figure dropped to 9.9 billion bags in 2008.
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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