Bristol shows carrier bags the bin

Bristol City Council is teaming up with the major supermarkets in a new recycling initiative targeting the UK’s major green talking point - plastic carrier bags.

In addition to the carrier bag recycling bins offered in store by most supermarkets, the council’s recycling team will now be trialing outdoor carrier bag recycling banks.

With six sites already installed over Christmas, it is aiming to roll out to a network of up to twelve by February 2008.

The six sites are: ASDA in East Street, Bedminster and Oatlands Avenue, Whitchurch; Sainsbury’s in Winterstoke Road, Ashton Gate; Tesco in Kellaway Avenue and Callington Road; and Waitrose in Northumbria Drive.

These new ‘bag banks’ will sit alongside the familiar bottle, can and paper banks.

They are intended to reduce littering at recycling centres, where people often carry bottles and cans to the site using plastic bags.

This partnership deal with supermarkets will see the council supplying each £450 bank, but the supermarkets will pick up the cost of emptying and servicing after it is put in place.

Executive Member for Neighbourhoods Councillor Judith Price said: “Introducing these carrier bag banks is very timely.

“Supermarket bags are a major talking point nationally at the moment, and this gives the people of Bristol yet another recycling option.

“We are also used to seeing discarded bags littering recycling sites, so this should discourage that unsightly behaviour.”

The idea grew from a pilot enforcement operation carried out at Tesco’s Eastville supermarket earlier this year, where discarded plastic bags were found to be a nuisance in the car park despite recycling bins being available in store.

It is also expected that many people will react to recent national publicity by - literally - binning their plastic bags in favour of tougher ‘bags for life’ or the traditional shopping basket.