If rubbish is your bag...

IT IS estimated that the UK grocery industry uses enough carrier bags to carpet the entire planet twice a year. According to Government figures, each household uses an average of 323 bags every 12 months while the average life of a single, give-away carrier is only three minutes.

With this in mind, Durham County Council is one of only three authorities in the country which is looking to reduce the level of waste. Late last year, Durham made the national headlines when it announced that it was considering imposing a 10p tax on each bag taken from a shop within Durham. A phone poll conducted by The Northern Echo showed that 70 per cent of callers were in favour of the bag tax.

Next Monday, Durham councillors meet to discuss how their initiative is moving forward, and to see how they can work more closely with local supermarkets to reduce the 65 million carrier bags which are thrown away in the county each year.

The idea for the 10p levy came from Ireland which introduced the tax last March. Confronted with having to pay for bags, Irish shoppers changed their ways almost overnight. Within four months, carrier bag usage had fallen by 90 per cent and almost £2m had been raised to pay for environmental improvements, such as disposing of unwanted fridges and freezers. Consumers were offered paper bags as a free alternative but the Irish experience has been that shoppers prefer to re-use plastic bags rather than take home a paper alternative.

Before the levy was introduced about 1.2 billion bags were handed out to Irish shoppers without charge each year. In Britain, 20 billion are taken, with only one in every 200 being recycled.

Martin Cullen, the Irish environment minister, said last summer: "When one considers the scale of the litter problem caused by plastic bags in the past and the resulting cost of clearing them to the taxpayer, it brings home how this incentive has captured the public imagination.

"People have accepted the discipline of bringing their reusable bags with them when they go shopping."

The Irish scheme has been so successful it has become an example to other countries, including Britain, with Environment Minister Michael Meacher considering a similar levy.

THE Australians are looking at the same measures, with their government recently introducing The Plastic Bag (Assessment and Collection) Bill. The idea is for retailers to collect a levy of 25 cents per bag and a Commissioner of Taxation to be given extensive powers to deal with any late or unpaid funds.

Research among Australians has shown that about 80 per cent are concerned about the impact of plastic bags on the environment and similar numbers support a 25 cent levy on carrier bags in supermarkets - if it could produce the same results as the Irish levy.

Other countries have adopted methods ranging from shopping incentives to heavily advertised recycling campaigns. In Canada, for example, provinces work with large retailers to develop express lines so those who proudly sport their reusable bags get to speed through the check-out. In some areas there are also price discounts for shoppers who carry their own bags.

Portugal has had a successful recycling box campaign, backed-up by major television and newspaper advertising. The campaign has resulted in a 215 per cent increase in plastic bag recycling rates at one supermarket chain alone.

In Britain, the onus is on the local authorities and supermarkets to find a solution.

The Co-op became the first supermarket to produce a degradable carrier bag and it is something which has been taken up by the Somerfield chain.

Somerfield alone uses about 750 million carrier bags a year - 6,000 of them at their Newton Aycliffe store in County Durham. The chain's plastic carrier bag bill is £10m a year and company spokesman Pete Williams says switching to degradable bags will not cost them a great deal more.

The bags are supplied by Symphony Environmental and have the support of The Soil Association - the first time that packaging products have been endorsed by a non-governmental organisation for making a positive contribution to the environment.

The carrier bags are reduced to carbon dioxide and water within 18 months - compared with the average life of a plastic carrier bag of 100 years.

Like many other supermarkets, Somerfield also runs a Bags for Life scheme which encourages customers to buy a sturdy reusable carrier for 10p. A survey by Durham council found that this scheme was poorly promoted by most supermarkets, and Mr Williams says Somerfield is looking at relaunching its version.

He says: "We're always looking at how we can improve our relationship with the environment and the degradable bags seemed like a logical step to take. At the end of the day it's what our customers want and it's not going to cost us a great deal more."

It appears most people are keen to take measures which help save the planet - until they are required to make a great deal of effort, such as loading their cars with bottles and newspapers and going out of their way to their local recycling bank.

Claire Wilton, senior waste campaigner with environmental group Friends of the Earth, said: "98 per cent of people say they want to recycle so it's obviously popular but when you look at the actual number of people recycling it's a lot less than that. This is why we're keen to see doorstep recycling collections so people don't have to go far to recycle.

"Having degradable carrier bags is just a drop in the ocean. The levy in Ireland has proved very successful but ultimately dealing with waste is such a big problem it goes far beyond plastic carrier bags. We need to consider further measures of taxation."

Durham County Council's sustainability group hopes to encourage schools to design posters to encourage a more "thoughtful" approach to the use of carrier bags. It also hopes to hold a seminar with traders other than supermarkets to discuss the issue.

At the end of the day, says Coun Joe Armstrong, sustainability group chairman, everyone has a part to play in addressing the problem.