This petition was submitted during the 2017 to 2019 Parliament
Rejected petition Offer tax-free paper bags to oppose usage of plastic ones.
Rejected on
As plastic bags all over the UK have a 5p tax, people have begun to use more reusable bags. These plastics, however, are not fully recyclable as paper is/can be. Offering paper bags for free is much more sustainable than our current options and I believe that these will again replace plastic bags.
Plastic bags can take anywhere from 5 to 1000 years to fully decompose, where as paper can be recycled or would only take one month.
Plastic bags waste oils which could be refined for other use.
Paper manufacture is much more sustainable and reliant, whereas fossil fuels are estimated to run out in the next century.
It costs a lot of money to put research into plastic, while we already have the ability to make paper bags.
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.
Petitions need to call on the UK Government or Parliament to take specific action.
There is no charge on paper bags, so we are not sure what action you would like the UK Government or Parliament to take.
You could start a new petition setting out clearly the change you would like to see.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.