ACS

Following the joint efforts of ACS and BRC (British Retailing Consortium) uniting to use Parliamentary procedure to petition against the London Local Authorities (Shopping Bags) Bill on Wednesday 30th January 2008, three MPs have tabled a blocking motion.

The blocking motion, tabled by Eric Illesley, Phillip Dunne and Ian Liddell-Grainger requires that the Bill proposed by London councils faces a vote of the whole House.

ACS and BRC oppose local councils having legal powers in this area. They argue that the proposed ban on single use carrier bags will damage the trading ability of stores just inside bag-ban boundaries and London Councils have done no work to assess the overall impact of a ban on London’s retail economy.

Retailers of all types are well on the way to achieving their commitment to reduce the environmental impact of bags by 25 per cent by the end of this year. Initiatives include; rewarding re-use and recycling, promoting re-usable bags, reducing the plastic in bags and using recycled plastic in bags.

Retailers stress carrier bags make up only a fraction of one per cent of waste going to landfill. A total ban would make virtually no environmental difference but would have a serious impact on customers and retailers. It would disproportionately affect impulse buys which are particularly important to convenience stores and make buying large or expensive items such as clothing, that need protection, almost impossible.