"Londoners alone use one billion plastic bags a year, many of which are burnt, releasing toxic fumes or else they end up in landfill sites. We need to look for alternatives before we are buried under a mountain of bags," said Noel.
As well as calling for people to use alternative such as re-usable bags, Noel is calling for a tax of 10p to be placed on all plastic bags to reduce the numbers being used.
"The idea of introducing a bag tax isn’t as unpopular as one might think," said Noel.
"A MORI poll recently found that only 27% of UK people would oppose a bag tax. Indeed, Durham Council recently offered the county as a test area for a tax."
Ireland recently introduced a very successful bag tax that lowered the number of bags consumed by 280 million in just three months – a success rate of 95%. The money that was raised was then put towards environmental initiatives.
‘We need to encourage people to change their mind-set. It is always tempting to just pick up a plastic bag when out shopping, but people need to understand that they are eating up finite resources, " said Peter.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
A copy of the report, ‘Plastic not Fantastic’ is available from the Green Party Group in the London Assembly. Please contact Orla Hurst 020 7983 4411 orla.hurst@london.gov.uk
ENDS