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Spain begins reducing use of plastic bags - consumers divided
Sep 2, 2009, 11:20 GMT
Madrid - Supermarket chains in Spain are launching measures to reduce the use of plastic bags in one of the European countries where they are still most widely used, press reports said Wednesday.
The French chain Carrefour has begun replacing free single-use plastic bags with reusable and recyclable ones, which cost between 5 cents and 1 euro 70 cents depending on their quality.
The Spanish chain Eroski will give clients a bonus of 1 cent for every plastic bag they do not take. Alcampo supermarkets and El Corte Ingles department stores are also offering clients the option of buying reusable bags.
The government wants to reduce the use of single-use plastic bags by half by 2014 in the country known as a 'plastic bag paradise,' where every resident uses an average of 238 such bags annually, according to environmental organizations.
Only about 10 per cent of the bags are recycled. The bags are regarded as a major environmental problem, given that their remains take 400 years to disappear from nature.
Environmentalists hailed the steps taken by the supermarkets, but some consumers were skeptical.
'I think it's just another way for the supermarkets to make money at our expense,' one woman said at a Madrid supermarket.
'I don't like this, because I've always used the plastic bags for garbage, without needing to buy bags for that purpose,' said a male client at another supermarket. 'But I understand that this is necessary to protect the environment.'
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