Town bids to get rid of plastic bags

TOWN chiefs are to step up a bid to rid Ipswich of carrier bags at a meeting being held today.

Ipswich Council will pledge to stop using plastic bags as an organisation by this August and is already in talks with businesses across the town in an attempt to get them to do the same.

At a meeting of the council's executive committee tonight, members were expected to give the green light to a raft of measures aimed at eliminating plastic bags.

Louise Gooch, responsible for environment, said: “So often these days people are offered plastic bags if they buy a sandwich at lunch time but invariably it becomes part of the waste system within 20 minutes.

“We are keen to reduce the number out there.

“They are produced using fossil fuels but we are running out of fossil fuels and there are better uses for them than making plastic bags.”

As part of the plan, Ipswich Council's public facing services will have in place an alterative to plastic carrier bags, such as paper, corn starch or cloth, by August.

Meanwhile the council will educate its staff and encourage the reduction in the use of plastic carrier bags.

The authority is also meeting with businesses in the town to encourage them to switch to other materials rather then plastic.

“We can prove to organisations that it can be done.

“We are working with Ipswich Central and the Business Improvement District and will be talking to them about what we are doing as a borough and asking them if they can step up to the mark.”

Each year more than 13 billion plastic bags are distributed in the UK with the average person using around 290 a year which equates to 2.6 kg per person.

Will the council's bid be successful? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk