Ban the Bag

In November 2007 London Councils, encouraged by clear public support, deposited a private Bill – the London Local Authorities (Shopping Bags Bill) – to parliament.

If passed, the Bill will bring about a ban on single-use throwaway shopping bags in the capital. 

You can help us, and the environment, by contacting your MP to show your support for the Bill. The more people that email their MP about a ban the greater chance the proposals have of being successful. Click here and follow the simple instructions.

Londoners use over 1 billion shopping bags each year. On average, only one in 200 of these are recycled, meaning that the vast majority of these either end up in landfill or end up littering the environment both here in the UK and abroad.

Many of these bags will take up to 400 years to breakdown – meaning that they will continue to blight our environment for generations to come.

We see this as a problem and want to reduce the amount of bags being thrown away each year. And, by addressing this issue, we also want to encourage Londoners to move from a single-use disposable way of thinking to adopt more sustainable behaviour.