Reader views (20)

 Add your view

I agree with Dan Slack of Kew, I think it's a disgrace that Tesco with all their resources can't manage to go plastic free unlike the smaller traders. What sort of example is this setting? I am confused about the post regarding Kew Gardens returning to plastic as I was in there just the other day and was given a paper bag for my purchases and it was absolutely fine. It also made an excellent reusable gift bag! Perhaps he missed the notice that Kew are phasing out the use of plastic bags and are possibly still using them for some purchases which I assume is to avoid further waste. Well done Kew. Why don't Tesco commit to phasing out theirs if that is why they continue to use them?

- Shannon, Winchester

Don't have a go at Tesco there are other traders that are still using plastic bags. In the gift shop at Kew Gardens today (13th July) I bought a book and was given a plastic carrier. I asked about the Kew goes plastic free promotion and was told that Kew Gardens went plastic free for a week but the paper bags they used instead were useless. They had so many customer complaints so they have returned to plastic.

- Mark Mellor, Kew

Well done Kew. Although it is of course obvious that banning bags won't save the world, and everyone knows that paper and cornstarch bags have an environmental impact as well, plastic bags are a great, immediate and recognisable symbol of the wider challenges we face, and it is a brilliant first step along the road to sustainability.

We in Newington Green are doing the same thing - starting by building a giant whale on our green on 13th July to celebrate our launch. Come and join the fun! 12-4pm

Find us on the web by googling 'plastic bag free newington green'

- Plastic Bag Free Newington Green, London

The point is - Tesco are still using plastic bags! They haven't "caved in" as you put it. Tesco in Kew is surrounded by many independent traders. They are managing to not use plastic bags full stop. How is it the so called leader in UK retail can't manage it? I think it's very unfair and I am disappointed in the way you have given them (Tesco) apparent positive publicity out of this. The traders who are making a real commitment towards the environment don't get a mention at all.

- Dan Slack, Kew

It's great that you published the campaign in Kew, but Tesco have NOT "caved in". Yes it's true that that offered to do for Kew what they had agreed to do for North Berwick when traders there undertook a similar venture, ie keep bags under the counter.

But they did not go as far as the other traders and agree to NOT ever give out free plastic bags, or positively to give out Kew's alternative cornstarch bag in place of plastic ones.

To say that this is a "major turnaround" is more than a little over enthusiastic and Tesco aren't really the good guys in all of this.

- Mecca Ibrahim, Kew, Surrey

A totemic gesture that achieves very little in the final analysis. Kew would do better to try and minimise their carbon footprint through putting in place more meaningful measures. Sure, there's a marine impact to consider - but I doubt that much used in Kew is adding to that impact, unless it gets chucked directly in the Thames when people have finished with it.

The real issue with plastic bags revolves around their carbon cost of manufacture. Plastic bags are wasteful - but so are the alternatives. I do hope that Kew is ensuring that no-one replaces plastic bags with paper bags, for example - these have about five times the life cycle impact that plastic bags do. I note the use of a cornstarch biodegradable bag - has anyone undertaken a life cycle assessment of this? You'll find the costs of manufacture will be greater than that of a plastic bag.

Dwarfing these impacts will be the other costs associated with living in Kew. How do they optimise energy use in the area? What do they do with their biodegradable wastes and other recyclables? What incentives do they use to ensure that locals use public transport? All much bigger issues than the humble plastic bag.

I'm not surprised that Zac Goldsmith is involved with this programme. I remember when The Ecologist was a reputable scientific journal and not a green tabloid too...

- Ade Jones, UK

Tell you what let's first get the flight paths removed from west London so you can walk and enjoy the atmosphere at Kew without frequent 90 second jet burn - pretty sure jets are contributing just as much to wild life and human quality of life issues.

- Christian Ball, London

Handing out plastic bags on request is not exactly "caving in" - it's hardly even the smallest common denominator. They are still handing out plastic bags. That's the bottom line and should hardly be applauded.
The Co-op in Modbury, the town in Devon that went plastic bag free last year, has fully supported the scheme by banning plastic bags from their shop in Modbury and even supplying local households with a free fairtrade cotton bag! They have also changed their plastic bags nation wide to a degradable variety (not quite compostable, but still better than those that stick around for 100s of years).
This shows that supermarkets can do better. Don't give Tesco credit where no credit is due please.

- Ulrike, Kew

It's a pity Tesco aren't going all the way but it's great that they are trying to help.

- Sarah, London

I am very pleased by Kew's great step forward, and based on our experience, I am confident that Kew stands to see a drastic fall in the use of plastic bags very rapidly. Your paper covered the news of our Bags for Better Lives project, which we launched in Wimbledon Park last April. Since then, we have seen a drastic fall in the use of plastic bags, as the local Co-operative store came on board of our project and stopped issuing their degradable plastic bags, while making cornstarch bags available at 6p, as well as selling fair traded cotton and plastic bags for life. Local businesses sponsored our own fair traded cotton bag, of which we produced 3,000 and distributed to local residents by knocking on their doors. We are working hard to get the local Sainsbury's on board, though it hasn't proved easy. In the meantime, the local Farmers' Market is joining our project by introducing a 5p levy on plastic bags trial period, and widely promoting reusable bag usage among its customers. Initiatives such as Kew's and ours in Wimbledon Park are able to galvanise local communities and to empower local residents to take action for our communities and our world. Let's now get the big supermarkets on board - and show them how smaller traders can take these bold steps!

- Mariana Cervantes-Burchell, London Borough of Merton

What a pointless gesture. Are they going to have road blocks on Kew Bridge to stop the people from Brentford bringing in plastic bags?

- John, London

Plastic bags have very little effect on CO2 emissions etc. We should be looking at the bigger picture. This is just PC nonsense.

- Mikko Takala, Drumnadrochit, Scotland

Having just moved to the area I thought it was perfect, but obviously not. Damn Liberal Lefties again spoiling our modern convenient lifestyle.

By all means, make a small charge for a bag, say 2p, but don't stop giving them out. Sorry, but I will not be carrying a bag around with me at all times just in case I pop into the supermarket.

Once again, decisions being made without finding the best solution to a problem. Carry on like this and you will all surely ensure that Great Britain faces a future that is anything but Great.

- Chris Rigby, Kew

Keeping the plain bags under the counter - I thought it used to be dirty books! How times change!

- Martin H Watson, Teddington

It seems a little odd that Mr.Zac Goldsmith is so anti plastic, supermarkets etc. His late father made millions of pounds when he owned Safeway supermarket enabling Zac to live the lifestyle he does.

- Martin, London

I wish Tesco had stuck by their guns.

So called environmental campaigners are abject hypocrites who are happy to fly by plane and drive expensive cars and pollute that way.

What kind of idiot takes a bag to work with them so they can do their shopping on the way home?

I'm never going to shop in Marks and Spencer since they started charging 5 pence (a rip-off) for each bag.

It takes more energy to make a canvas bag bag than a plastic bag anyway.

- Ale Bro, Camden

I bet all of the whales and dolphins in Kew are breathing a huge sigh of relief!

- Tony C, Surbiton

Tesco "retreat"? Quite rightly they are still giving customers the means to take their groceries home, only putting the bags out of sight...the idea of adding yet further to inflation by charging for these compostable bags is a non starter in any area which is not rich like Kew. Wealthy people have a choice. Poorer people do not. Every time you see these moves accompanied by the words "customers may be charged extra", you know it is about money-making and not the environment. With food prices rising by 9% a year, should the wealthy be ordering the less well off to "eat cake and buy compostable carrier bags"?

- Damian Hockney, London, UK

I recently returned from Tamil Nadu, S India where plastic bags are totally banned. Instead shoppers are given bags assembled from excess newspapers, reinforced with cardboard and with string handles. These are produced by locals with disabilities, providing much needed income. If an under-developed, impoverished state in India finds it economically and environmentally viable to supply these bags for free, I feel that Britain could easily do the same. I brought back some samples as souvenirs - should any interested party (Greener Kew, Zac Goldsmith, Tesco et al) wish to examine them, I shall be more than happy to oblige. In addition, they look really funky!

- Linda Jackson, Putney, London

This is great news and I'm really pleased that Tesco have caved in. It's time that we took on the Tesco lobby - too much is taken out of out local communities and not enough put back in - it's a fight we will be taking to Tesco and Sainsbury's in Kilburn and West Hampstead.

- Ed Fordham, Hampstead

Add your comment