Leicestershire Parish Councils

Should Braunstone become a plastic bag free Town?

FACTFILE

* We use on average 167 carrier bags a year each

* Only one in every 200 bags is recycled

* Bags take 400 - plus years to break down in landfill sites

* One in 10 accept a bag for an item they will use right away

* 80% of shoppers put everything into free carrier bags

* About 10 billion plastic bags are given away at supermarket checkouts each year in Britain

* Each bag is used for an average of just 12 minutes.

* Plastic does not bio-degrade, it photodegrades into toxic particles which enter the food chain because they are eaten by animals and birds or go into water supplies.

Braunstone Town Council is currently considering whether it should become involved in a scheme to encourage residents, shops and businesses to stop using plastic bags.

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