THE plastic bag may have had its day in Huddersfield.
An all-out campaign to get rid of the bags will be launched in the town next weekend.
Councillors and retailers are uniting to try to get rid of the bags which are a major cause of long-term pollution.
They want to encourage shoppers to use paper or textile bags instead and will launch their campaign at the Farmers’ Market next Sunday.
Huddersfield would become the biggest town in the country to go bag-free if the campaign takes off.
Peters, NEXT, Beaverbrooks and retailers in the Kingsgate Centre are supporting the scheme.
Kirklees Council decided to work towards becoming a plastic bag-free authority in December 2007
Huddersfield South Area Committee took up the challenge to establish a local campaign
A number of towns up and down the country have declared themselves plastic bag free areas, such as Hebden Bridge, Modbury, Devon, Hay-on-Wye and recently Selkirk, Scotland
Residents in Meltham have already started a project to rid their area of plastic bags
The main aim of the campaign is to encourage residents to adopt the habit of using their own shopping bags, such as organic bags that can be reused and recycled, and are readily available in town centre stores.
On average we use each plastic bag for approximately 12 minutes before disposing of it. It can then last in the environment for centuries.
They cause global environmental damage and kill vast numbers of marine life, even in far-off places.
Most plastic bags do not biodegrade, they photodegrade, breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic pieces that contaminate soil, waterways, oceans and entering the food chain when ingested by animals
