BUY IT NAKED (Fiona Hall MEP)

Fiona Hall MEP <info@fionahall.org.uk>

BUY IT NAKED

September 18, 2007 12:00 AM

Liberal Democrats have welcomed a motion passed at the party's conference today to tackle excess packaging.

They say that Liberal Democrat plans to help consumers and retailers to 'Buy It Naked' would dramatically lessen the growing waste burden.

Britain's total domestic waste is up 21% since 1997, while household recycling has increased from 6% to 23%. Packaging from food products and other household items accounts for 17% of the average home's food budget.

While the Government has failed to meet the demands of an EU Directive passed to set targets for waste reduction, the Liberal Democrats have been labelled by an independent body as the greenest party in UK politics.

Fiona Hall said:

"Packaging accounts for around 5 million tonnes of waste per year. Considering total domestic waste in Britain is currently around 26 million tonnes per year, it is plain to see that packaging makes up a very significant contribution to the UK's waste problem.

Local businessman and Councillor, owner of The Health Warehouse, Darlington, Mike Barker, said:

"There is as much packaging used in the distribution process as there is from the shop to the consumer, but this is hidden because the consumer never sees it: the shop has to dispose of it.

"Unfortunately, most towns and cities, including Darlington, have no facilities for trade waste recycling: the recycling lorries don't call at commercial premises and trade waste is banned from the council's recycling and rubbish facilities."

Mr Barker's shop provides cloth bags for customer to re-use for their shopping. Commenting on measures such as these that help customers to 'BUY IT NAKED', Fiona Hall said:

"Supermarkets give away more than 17 billion plastic bags each year. Simple action to reduce the amount of plastic bags given away would have an immediate positive effect."