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Plea to ban plastic bags
8:02am Thursday 8th May 2008
A YOUNGSTER from Malton is leading a grassroots rebellion against plastic bags.
Sixteen-year-old Hannah Keal wants to turn the Ryedale market town into a plastic bag free zone in a bid to make it more environmentally friendly.
If she succeeds, Malton will become only the second town in Yorkshire to join the movement after Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire banned plastic bags earlier this year.
The teenager already has the backing of Ryedale District Council, Malton's Chamber of Commerce, Business In Action, and its resident group, Thrive, and she has involved local children in designing alternative "bags for life" to offer shoppers and plans to have the bags printed locally.
She said: "We all now know that plastics are far from fantastic so this is our chance to act local and help make an impact that is global.
"Waste plastic bags make up 80 per cent of the volume of litter found on roads, parks and beaches and 90 per cent of litter in the oceans. They can start here and end up anywhere and everywhere."
Shopkeepers were invited to sign up to the initiative at a ceremony in Malton's Milton Rooms, Market Place.
The acclaimed wildlife artist Robert Fuller, who lives in nearby Thixendale, was asked to judge a competition for the logo.
Mr Fuller, a committed conservationist, was asked to choose from more than 100 entries by children from Rillington, Terrington, Malton, and Norton primary schools.
He picked a design by ten-year-old Alice Walker, of Welburn Primary School.
"Alice's design was very striking," he said. "I noticed it as soon as I walked into the room. It had a strong environmental message as well as a link to the twin towns of Malton and Norton.
"Plastic bags cause havoc to wildlife as well as to the landscape and I am delighted to see the tide turn against them.
"Malton is surrounded by beautiful countryside which hosts a wealth of wildlife. It is so important we protect our much-loved environment.
"I am confident that the people and businesses in Malton will get behind this fantastic initiative and use these exclusive Malton bags with pride.
"I am very happy to be involved - I think it is a great idea - and I will be looking out for the bags in the shops soon so that I can get my hands on the first ones!"
Alice was awarded a winning prize of a family cinema pass to Malton's local cinema and a book token from Hopper's Stationers was awarded to her school.
Your Say YourPress
Yorkenstein, York says...
9:03am Thu 8 May 08
I have used plaggy bags for years - lining my bin, throwing away (non-compostable) kitchen waste and nappies etc... So where's the alternative solution? Where's the story on what the retailers are offering instead?? A fair-trade cotton bag is no substitute for regualr waste....and although the "Bag for Life" idea is commendable and great for buying FRESH grocaries etc, we need to consider the full usages of a plastic bag.
I tried NOT using plastic bags to throw my waste away, and the next morning spent 15 minutes clearing a chicken carcass off my drive which eaither a cat or fox had got from inside my wheelie bin!!
You can't just expect people to stop. Old habits die hard and ALTERNATIVES are needed.
Anyway, top pic Fuller!
viper, says...
10:27am Thu 8 May 08
At least with a supermarket plastic bag, it is used, usually used again, and then again, and then it becomes a bin liner.
A-lot of the non-plastic bags, are the woven jobbies and require more energy to make and distribute - due their additional bulk.
This argument about plastic bags being bad for the environment due to the amount that goes to landfill is weak, plastic bin liners will still go to landfill and will only have been used once.
Most plastic bags are recycled now anyway, if joe public can be bothered to do so and if the councils get their fingers out and offer more plastic recycling facilities.
The litter you see, again is nothing to do with the plastic bags themselves, it's again Joe public, and the bad business practising of not securing sites from wind/refuse vehicles - have you seen the amount of rubbish that falls out the back of these things on the roads?
Supermarket plastic bags get such hard press and yet the reused several times over and recycled.
It's the public who need the education in litter control.
lastword morris, Haxby Rd says...
10:34am Thu 8 May 08
Yorkenstein, York says...
11:19am Thu 8 May 08
I'm not knocking Hannah in this article at all, but the Press could do so much more and look at the issue and around the arguement. Banning plastic bags just moves the problem elsewhere, and as the people above have commented, just means that more plastic bags will be purchased from supermarkets.
If The Press were to really REALLY report and comment on such issues, then it would perhaps be a paper i would BUY.
(Of course i would recycle it as many times as possible...)
Brian, york says...
12:45pm Thu 8 May 08
s could leave a supply of cardboard boxes to use then they can easily be recycled after use from home.
Vlad The Impaler, Transylvania says...
2:41pm Thu 8 May 08
Biodegradable pedal bin liners & black bin bags are both available at Sainsburys & probably other supermarkets too. I've been using them for some time.
Also if you buy enough "bags for life" you'll have plenty to carry home your groceies in then you won't need to use plastic bags.
Yorkenstein, York says...
3:27pm Thu 8 May 08
Vlad The Impaler wrote:not my arguement.
Yorkenstein, Biodegradable pedal bin liners & black bin bags are both available at Sainsburys & probably other supermarkets too. I've been using them for some time. Also if you buy enough "bags for life" you'll have plenty to carry home your groceies in then you won't need to use plastic bags.
My arguement is that banning plaggy bags (ie; at the checkout) just shifts the problem to ourchasing them from the store instead. Therefore this should be more widely encouraged and promoted, ie; the alternative highlighted. It's a fact that people are lazy, so much so that wandering down the store to get biodegradable bags is too much for them. Instead of selling sweeps and crap magazines at point of purchase areas, they should perhaps highlight such things..
oli4uk, York says...
4:39pm Thu 8 May 08
I like the way the people campainging for their removal fail to mention how useful they are to many people, take those who are disabled, I was on crutches for three month and if I was having to use one of the bloody 'reusable bags' it would have taken me a week to drag my shopping home due to the akward design.
Plastic bags may be a big part of the rubbish problem but they are also **** useful, its like saying kitchen knives have been used in murders, they must be banned, petrol has been the cause of environmental disasters, ban it, and most rape cases involve sexual organs, they should be removed at birth.
This plastic bag campain is going to adversely affect the nation because of litter louts, who will still be throwing more than enough rubbish onto our countries streets.
repoman, here and there muhaa says...
4:55pm Thu 8 May 08
Brandon, York says...
5:59pm Thu 8 May 08
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Hannah Keal shows the winning logo to wildlife artist Robert Fuller
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Rantin Reg, Selby says...
8:28am Thu 8 May 08