A spokesman for the Prime Minister said

"We welcome anything which discourages single use plastic bags. All sorts of organisations, including shops, businesses and even newspapers are now taking steps to reduce their environmental impact. The Bagbusters campaign in Evesham is a great example of people taking  environmental action at a local level - we want to see more of these campaigns succeed."

What follows is a quote from David Cameron on hearing about the campaign that Evesham Bagbusters is running.
 
“We all have a shared responsibility for our neighbours, for our country and for our planet. So when it comes to action to protect the environment we all have a role to play: governments, businesses, communities, voluntary organisations and all of us as individuals. I am therefore delighted to lend my support to this campaign discouraging the use of single-use plastic bags - which cause so much damage to the environment and to wildlife”
 
David Cameron MP
Leader of the Conservative Party
camerond@parliament.uk
http://www.davidcameronmp.com/

The Worcestershire Federation of WI’s gives their whole hearted support to the Evesham Bagbusters and we hope that they will be very successful. 

We are especially pleased that as a result of the W’Is national Reduce

Packaging Day€� in June 2006 has brought to the attention of the whole country both the use of plastic bags and excess packaging. 

We hope that you are successful in your campaign.  I am sure that all the institutes in the Evesham area will give you their support and we will display details of your bags on our notice-board.

Best wishes

Heather Jefferies

FEDERATION ADMINISTRATOR

Worcestershire Federation of WIs

Tel 01905 641658

From Peter Luff MP

Saving the Planet begins at home. Whether it’s saving energy (turn off those lights, walk instead of taking the car, turn the thermostat down one degree) or cutting down on waste (recycle everything possible, compost if you can, reject over-packaged goods) each and every one of us can make a difference.

Of course, it’s even better when communities work together and that’s what makes Evesham Bagbusters such a great initiative.

Cutting down on plastic bags saves energy and reduces waste. Plastic bags are really quite a new idea and not a very good one. Giving away free something that uses scarce resources so unwisely and can cause so much environmental damage is wrong. They may have their uses for some things, but the good old fashioned shopping basket, or the reusable lifetime bags are so much better most of the time.

So good luck to Evesham Bagbusters€ let’s work to make the town not one that offers free plastic bags, but one that is plastic bag free!

Peter Luff MP
Member of Parliament for Mid Worcestershire
Chairman, Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform Committee
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA

Telephone 01905 763952

www.peterluff.org.uk

From Liz Lynne MEP

I was thrilled to learn that the growing movement against throw away plastic bags has been embraced by the people of Evesham.

These bags are adding horrendously to landfill sites, use huge amounts of energy and oil in their production and often choke wild animals who mistake them for food, so any way we can reduce their use is worth the effort.

Voluntary community initiatives such as Evesham Bagbusters are vital in limiting our impact on the environment. It would be great to see other towns across the region roll out similar schemes.

Liz Lynne MEP

www.lizlynne.org.uk

'I fully support Evesham Bagbusters and their fantastic ambition. Plastic bags are the epitome of our current awful wastefulness: unnecessary, short-lived in terms of their usage and then taking 500 years to decompose. If they don't end up in landfill, they end up in the seas, killing wildlife. We can do without them. The world will thank us.'

Alistair McGowan.

Junior Face of 08 Photo Competition