Scarborough Council has agreed in principle to help the borough become a plastic bag free zone by developing a range of promotional activities and giving advice to retailers. Councillors recently backed plans for a voluntary agreement with retailers to stop issuing free plastic bags.

At the moment, supermarkets are the biggest culprits, handing out more than 17 billion plastic bags to UK customers every year – equating to 300 for every man, woman and child and nearly 60,000 tonnes of plastic going to landfill sites.

The bags can take between up to 1,000 years to break down and like all forms of plastic, they do not biodegrade. Traditional plastic bags “photodegrade”, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces that contaminate soil, waterways and oceans, entering the food chain when ingested by animals.

Staff at Scarborough Sea Life Centre have added their voices to the campaign against the scourge of plastic carrier bags which have been known to cause death and distress to both marine animals and birds.

Chairman of Filey Chamber of Trade Chris Hodgson applauded the efforts of local traders to take on the issue and said it would be discussed at a forthcoming meeting of the chamber.

What the main local supermarkets say they are doing



Somerfield (Filey): In early 2003, Somerfield was the first supermarket to nationally launch degradable carrier bags, supported by The Soil Association. They begin to degrade after 18 months and will completely vanish within three years, leaving carbon dioxide, water and minerals to be absorbed into the soil naturally. Somerfield distributes about 900 million degradable bags each year.

The Co-operative (Hunmanby): The Co-operative is to run a six-week trial of home-compostable carrier bags in a bid to encourage shoppers to cut down on free, throwaway plastic bags. If it proves successful, the supermarket plans to roll it out to other areas, subject to local demand.

Shoppers will also be able to choose from a Fairtrade cotton bag or a plastic Bag for Life, which the retailer replaces for free and then recycles. Recycling bins for the throwaway plastic bags are also being installed in stores.