Another Plastic Bag Free "Village"
by Bonnie Alter, London on 10. 2.08
It's not quite Modbury, the town which has gone plastic bag free for a year now, or Kew, which isn't giving them out in shops, but it is ours. Belsize Park, a leafy neighbourhood in North London has launched a voluntary plastic bag ban. Called "Pennies for Plastic", forty local retailers will be encouraging customers not to take free plastic bags in their shops. For every reusable bag that shoppers bring, the store will donate money to a local Hospice. Or when a customer asks for a plastic bag, they will be asked to make a charity donation. Locals are being urged to buy a very nice-looking cream coloured organic cotton bag with "the belsize bag" printed on it.
To kick off the initiative, Belsize Eco Week has been going on all week. With the slogan "small steps big difference" a series of events have been held in celebration. Films were shown every evening and a debate was held on the Transition Towns movement and whether it can be achieved in this neighbourhood. The local supermarket had a display of eco cleaning products for use in the kitchen and rest of the house.
The Free Bike Fixing clinic was a big hit, with the opportunity to get old bikes into shape and lots of good advice. For the hardy, there was food foraging on the nearby Hampstead Heath. A Give & Take was held in the local town hall. You bring what you don't want and take what you do. A trip to the Camden Eco House was arranged. It's a Victorian house that has been retrofitted to achieve an 80% cut in carbon emissions. :: Belsize Bag Ban
More on Other Plastic Bag Free Towns
:: Modbury A Year Without Plastic Bags
:: Treehugger Picks: Ban the Bag
:: Another Plastic Bag Free Village
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wow, a whole London suburb!!! Frankly we need legislation in the UK to make it illegal to give away plastic bags. Make people buy them and they will soon show up with their own. Here in France it is almost impossible to get a plastic bag in the supermarket without buying a HD 'lifetime' bag. That makes sense to me.
Plastic bags are not good, I think we all agree on that, but if they are biodegradable and you give them a second life, they might not be all that bad. As garbage bags, for exemple. I have this small shop in France (I'm not here to sell anything, it's just to explain how I came to discover what I'm talking about) and one of the articles I'm selling comes from the UK, it's the Ben the bin, made of recycled plastic, that can hold plastic bags so you can use them as garbage bags easily and it looks nice too. And I know compost would be even better but I don't think I can do that in my appartment…
As to not being able to get a plastic bag in a supermarket in France, I guess it depends on where you live, or whether you go to big places like Carrefour or your next door grocery. I still see them at the market, and in the small stores where I shop.
This is a story near and dear to me. I live on an organic ranch (no stores for miles) yet those plastic bags constantly blow into the fields putting our crops and animals at risk.
I wrote this plea: 50 Reasons to Go Green with Reusable Shopping Bags.
Bravo Belsize Park for launching a voluntary plastic bag ban. Awesome. I hope many more cities follow your lead.
Interesting to see plastic bags being frowned upon over there, as they are increasingly so here in the US.
One problem - i prefer plastic bags because, after bringing the groceries home, they're great for when walking the dog, to pick up certain substances. What to use instead?