 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
Supermarkets in Britain slash plastic bags
London (AFP) July 17, 2009 Supermarkets in Britain are giving out almost half as many plastic shopping bags as they were three years ago after a campaign to slash use of the environmental hazards, officials said Friday. Shoppers were handed 372 million plastic bags at seven major supermarkets in May this year, down from 718 million bags at the same time in 2006, the environment secretary said. The figures suggest supermarkets are now using 346 million fewer carrier bags every month than they were in 2006, a drop of 48 percent. "This is a great achievement by the seven supermarkets and their customers and it shows that by working together, we really can change our bag habits," Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said. The reduction narrowly misses a voluntary target set by the supermarkets, including Sainsbury's and Tesco, at the end of 2008 to halve the number of plastic carrier bags handed out compared to May 2006. "The target of a 50 percent reduction was only narrowly missed and retailers have really put a lot into this in the last six months," Benn said. Plastic bags can take decades to decompose and are blamed for clogging waterways, farms and fields, as well as damaging marine life when they are dumped in the sea. Governments, retailers and consumers around the world are under pressure to reduce the number of plastic bags, which are also piling up landfills. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Our Polluted World and Cleaning It Up
Chinese activist's wife calls for help after family's detentionBeijing (AFP) July 15, 2009 The wife of a Chinese environmental activist called for help Wednesday over the plight of her husband and daughter who she said had been unfairly detained on suspicion of leaking state secrets. Hu Jianhong said her husband, Sun Xiaodi, 55, a former uranium mine employee and subsequent environmental activist in Gansu, was detained on June 16. Her daughter, Sun Haiyan, 25, was taken from Beiji ... read more |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2009 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook