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They are the scourge of our town centres... An unwelcome and unsightly addition to streets, hedgerows, streams and open spaces... They use up a vast amount of resources and take a lot of time to clear away... We are of course talking about plastic bags and now Wigan Council wants rid of them...for good! Council experts are hoping to turn Wigan into one of the first plastic-bag free boroughs and to help they're handing out their own hold-alls which can be used and used again. Council environmental education co-ordinator Nick Burdekin explains: "We want to make our borough a cleaner and greener place to live, work and visit and we're starting by declaring war on the plastic bag. "We are providing free ‘bags for life' to more than 20 stores across the borough to hand out to customers. Each comes with a factsheet that explains the benefits this will bring to both wildlife and people." The sturdy eco-friendly alternatives will be dished out to customers and it is hoped that businesses signed up to the scheme will go on to buy more once initial stocks have run out. And if you needed more proof about the perils of plastic think about this; the average bag is used for just 20 minutes but can take up to 1,000 years to degrade. "If you think about it we are in danger of leaving a legacy of over-flowing landfill sites for future generations to wade through and sort out," says Nick. "By re-using your 'bag for life' you can help reduce the amount of plastic bags being handed out and, as a result, reduce the amount of litter on our streets." And leading the charge is housewife Lynne Ashton from Plat Bridge who became one of the first people in the borough to receive one of the new council-backed ‘bags for life'. Lynne, who hails from Platt Bridge, entered a competition on Wigan radio station WISH FM and walked away with first prize of a free bag. The radio station has joined forces with the council to promote the ‘bags for life' scheme. WISH FM presenter Paul Jordan joined Nick recently to give Lynne her prize. Senior station director Mike Baker said: "The station has an important role to play in helping to promote this campaign and we encourage all listeners to think again about taking shopping home in plastic bags when ‘bags for life' are available." - To find out more about what you can do to help the environment visit the Recycling web pages.
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