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London: Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday warned retailers they had to start charging shoppers for the 13 billion plastic bags they currently get for free each year or the government would step in to force them.
Most bags end as landfill waste or being blown across the countryside, littering the landscape and harming wildlife. They can persist in the environment for centuries. Producing them involves petrochemicals and climate-damaging fossil fuels.
"I am convinced we need to act - and the time to act is now," Brown wrote in the Daily Mail newspaper. "And I want to make clear that if government compulsion is needed to make the change, we will take the necessary steps."
"We do not take such steps lightly - but the damage that single-use plastic bags inflict on the environment is such that strong action must be taken," he added.
International moves to curb the use of plastic bags are gathering momentum, with China and Australia announcing crackdowns last month. Ireland, Denmark and South Africa are among countries where customers must pay for bags.
Last year Brown struck a deal with supermarkets to reduce the number of bags and increase their recycled content to cut the environmental impact by 25 per cent.
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