This morning, Thursday 14th November, Deputy Brehaut accepted a petition from Plastic Free Guernsey to ban plastic carrier bags in Guernsey.
Over 6,300 members of the community have signed the petition.
Deputy Barry Brehaut, President of the Committee for the Environment & Infrastructure, said:
"This morning, the Committee for the Environment & Infrastructure received a petition with 6,352 signatures on to ban plastic carrier bags in Guernsey, from Plastic Free Guernsey. The Committee have already agreed to work up proposals to submit to the States of Deliberation on this topic in the future. We are working closely with Guernsey Waste to put together these proposals but we are in the very early stages of the process.
"Preliminary advice has been received from our legal advisers in regards to the type of legislative arrangements that may be required to implement such a ban and there are different options that the Committee will need to consider.
"Through the development of the proposals the Committee, along with Guernsey Waste, will engage with local industry to discuss the options available."
Richard Evans, Deputy Managing Director of States Trading Assets, said:
"As the proposals are developed, Guernsey Waste will continue conversations with retailers, to see what voluntary measures can be introduced to further reduce the provision of plastic carrier bags - both single use and other types.
"Although we don't have a ban on carrier bags, it is important to remember that Guernsey was much further ahead of the UK when it came to introducing a charge for carrier bags more than ten years ago. Once this was implemented (on a voluntary basis by the main grocery retailers) a substantial reduction was noted.
"We would like there to be a consistent approach across the board, and so will consult with the local retail industry to discuss the possible options, both voluntary and through legislation."
