Bonus Bag scheme commended by councillors

 

This week Greener Leith recognition from city councillors on the Transport, Infrastructure and Environment committee for the bonus bag part of our We Love Leith scheme. They passed the following motion with unanimous agreement:

“That this Council:

Recognises the social, economic and environmental benefits of local high streets across the city and is committed to working with local traders to improve these essential and invaluable community assets;

Commends the work of Greener Leith in encouraging local people to use local shops through the promotion of the Greener Leith Bonus Bag where discounts and offers are available to shoppers using the Greener Leith or alternative reusable bag;

Recognises the aim of becoming a zero waste city given the need to save resources, cut CO2 emissions and reduce the financial costs to the city in waste disposal;

Notes the public support for measures to make Edinburgh plastic bag free;

Notes that Ireland, Wales and Northern Ireland have introduced taxes on plastic bags and that countries including Italy have banned them entirely;

Agrees that a forward thinking capital city which markets itself as ‘Edenburgh’ can show the Scottish Government that more action is needed;

and calls for a report into how a reusable bag scheme can be rolled out across the city, looking, for example, at opportunities available within the Town Centre Regeneration projects for funding and promotion.”

The motion would not have happened without the support of local councillor, and now newly elected green MSP, Alison Johnstone , and Gordon Millar of the Ban Plastic Bags Edinburgh Campaign.

Whilst we are not funded to support the scheme anymore, there are still We Love Leith bags in use locally, and many of the participating businesses are still providing discounts to shoppers using them. Needless to say, Greener Leith would be delighted to play a role in any city-wide project that operates along the same lines, and it will be interesting to see if the council can make funding available to kick start a city wide scheme that might achieve the economies of scale required to make it economically self-sufficient.

You can read a bit more detail about how the scheme worked here:

Bonus Bag Outline

This news was also covered in this Edinburgh Evening News article.

Comments

[Jessica Carson]

Giving private companies the recognition they deserve for their green initiatives is one way to encourage other members of the community to pursue similar projects. Especially in small close-knit communities, a company with a good social image is looked up with admiration.