David Ruffley MP has today launched a campaign to make Bury St Edmunds a 'plastic bag free' town.

David is asking retailers in the town to only provide customers with plastic bags on request rather than automatically putting their items in a bag.

Plastic bags account for a huge amount of the waste we produce. They are difficult to recycle and non-biodegradable. Much of this waste could be cut out by using our own cloth carrier bags or so called durable 'bags for life' provided by some retailers.

David's objective is to stop so many plastic bags going into circulation unnecessarily.

David has written to St Edmundsbury Borough Council, Bury St Edmunds Town Council, Bury St Edmunds Chamber of Commerce and Bury St Edmunds Town Centre Management asking them to support the campaign.

David said:

'I am asking retailers in Bury St Edmunds to join me in this green initiative so that we can stop so many plastic bags going into circulation unnecessarily.

'Globally over 1 million plastic bags are used every minute.

'Plastic bags are non-biodegradable and local people are unable to recycle them via their refuse collection from St Edmundsbury Borough Council.

'Over the summer I will be asking all the retailers in the town to join my campaign and I will keep a list of all those who have signed up on my website at DavidRuffleyMP.com.

'There are numerous alternatives to using plastic bags- we can bring a bag from home, use a shopping basket or use the durable 'bags for life' that some stores provide.

'Environmental issues are some of the biggest challenges facing the world today. It is only by acting together that we will be able to go on and tackle issues such as climate change and make sure generations to come enjoy a cleaner, greener future.'