A UK-wide voluntary initiative to reduce the environmental impact of paper and plastic carrier bags by 25 per cent by the end of 2008 has been welcomed by the Packaging and Industrial Films Association (PIFA).
The organisation, which represents the producers and distributors of retail plastic carrier bags, has pledged its support to the government scheme.
“It may surprise some people that the manufacturers and suppliers of plastic bags are party to this agreement, but in fact we were the first to draft a voluntary code some time ago,” said PIFA chief executive David Tyson. “We welcome open, science-based debate about the relative merits of different carrier bag materials. This has shown that 80 per cent of households re-use their plastic carriers and it has also exposed the myth that paper is better for the environment when in fact, if measured by full life-cycle analysis, it has far greater environmental impacts.”
PIFA has been the principal industry body on the panel of retailers and waste experts which has worked with Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw and his team to secure the new voluntary code.
“It is quite clear when you examine the science rather than the environmental spin that the plastic carrier bag is the greenest choice we can make, but we just need to use it wisely and keep on using it. For example, we are wholly supportive of switching to ‘bags for life’, as our industry invented them,” said Tyson.
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