PACT Plastic Bag Free Penrith campaign

Plastic Bag Free Penrith

Plastic Bag Free Penrith project

DEFRA response to our single-use bag charge petition

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On 2nd October 2010, the Plastic Bag Free Penrith team took to the streets, setting up a Bag Swap stall to swap shoppers plastic bags for a new PACT cotton bag.  We gave away all our bags...

We also asked shopper to sign a petition to the House of Commons calling for a charge to be introduced in England on single use plastic carrier bags.  Almost 500 signatures were collected on the day, with more collected later; the petition was handed in by our MP Rory Stewart.

innovative uses for plastic bags

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Of course in the ideal world we wouldn't be dealing with issues around plastic bag disposal in the first place, but given there are still plenty of them about (!) how about some innovative ideas for re-using bags for knitting or making jewellery?

Just a few ideas here from a quick search on google / YouTube - I'm sure there are plenty more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o4jIUcSo8g

St Catherine's bag painting

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Date: 
Tue, 22/03/2011 - 00:00 to Fri, 29/03/2024 - 02:22
Venue: 
St Catherines School
Organisation: 
PACT Resources and Waste

The PACT Resources and Waste team are running four workshops at St Catherine's primary School as part of our Plastic Bag Free Penrith campaign - during Climate Week, 21-27 March 2011.

At the workshops, the students will paint blank cotton bags which they and their families can then use when shopping to avoid using plastic bags.

Please note, these workshops are not open to the public.

Resources and Waste action group meeting

Date: 
Thu, 20/01/2011 - 19:00 to Fri, 29/03/2024 - 02:22
Venue: 
The George Hotel
Organisation: 
PACT

This is a meeting to go through the Plastic Bag Free Penrith project plan and CWPF grant application.

We can also discuss the proposed Climate Week event at St Catherine's School in March.

We can also have a look at the Excess Packaging issues contributed by Nigel.

Italy's plastic bag ban starts tomorrow

I've just spotted that Italy has a complete plastic bag ban starting tomorrow:

"Italian retailers are banned from providing consumers polyethylene bags starting January 1st, making way for a change in consumer behaviour and the use of reusable cloth or plastic sacks, or bags made from biodegradable plastic or paper."

"According to Reuters, 'Italian critics say polyethylene bags use too much oil to produce, take too long to break down, clog drains, and easily spread to become eye sores and environmental hazards.'"

Get Penrith Co-op to use cotton bags for deliveries

At the Vitality of Penrith event this evening, Peter Clarke had a good suggestion for the Plastic Bag Free Penrith project.

We've previously been in touch with the Penrith Co-op about their use of plastic bags for their home supermarket deliveries.  They have smallish open crates with hooks to hang plastic bags with a customer's shopping.  We had previously thought of making custom returnable cardboard boxes to fit inside the crates.

Plastic Bag Free Penrith project

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Plastic Bag Free Penrith campaign project for 2011

Background - The Opportunity

Single use plastic carrier bags are a significant environmental problem, as they easily become litter and are a choking hazard for land and sea animals, with many bags accumulating in the 'plastic garbage patches' in the middle of our oceans. Switching to reusable bags is a good first step to moving from a throw-away society to adopting a more sustainable way of living, both for traders and shoppers.