Petition 5p charge on single use plastic bags

Supermarkets gave out 8 billion single use plastic carrier bags in Britain last year - this is including a 22% drop in Wales (due to their charge on plastic bags) but a 7.5% rise in England.

Plastic bags we use will take many hundreds of years to decompose if it all. In the meantime they will get into the ocean and kill marine animals, sit around at landfill and use unnecessary energy to create.

After the plastic bag charge was introduced in Wales, consumer habits have changed drastically resulting in a massive drop in plastic bag usage. For whatever reason England is far behind the rest of the UK and Europe in implementing legislation for sustainable living.

HM Government should set a fixed price on single use plastic bags to encourage people to bring their own bags.