Liberal Democrat councillors were out in force at the weekend to help launch the borough’s Plastic Bag Amnesty at the Energy Fair in Walthamstow Town Square.
Cllr Patrick Smith, Farid Ahmed (parliamentary candidate for Walthamstow) Cllr Bob Belam, Cllr James O’Rourke and Cllr Bob Wheatley (all pictured right) joined residents at the launch in exchanging their plastic bags for linen bags.
The initiative is a result of a Liberal Democrat motion to Full Council in December 2007 introduced by Cllr Bob Belam and local Lib Dem leader Cllr John Macklin, which will see a raft of ‘green’ measures introduced by the Council, including a ‘climate change impact assessment’ in every council report.
Speaking after Labour and Conservative councillors agreed to accept the Lib Dem recommendations, Bob Belam said:
“These are simple but effective measures that will make the way the Council works cheaper and more environmentally friendly.
“Local authorities are now rightly being put under pressure to deliver practical results with regard to the environment. Waltham Forest residents are already playing their part through their excellent uptake of waste recycling.
“A Climate Change Impact Assessment will make transparent the Council’s commitment to addressing residents environmental concerns, ensuring that the consideration of climate change issues are at the front and centre of everything the Council does.
“Liberal Democrats want to take a lead on this issue and become standard bearers for our residents, businesses and other local authorities.”
The Council’s plastic bag amnesty runs until 14 November, and during this period the Council will take ten of your environmentally unfriendly plastic carrier bags, send these to be recycled, and give you a neat new reusable cloth shopping bag in exchange.
Sound good? Well, you can make the trade at any WFD shop or, alternatively, have the amnesty brought to you when Waltham Forest staff greets shoppers this Thursday (5 November) outside Leytonstone bus station and tube entrance, or Saturday14 November at Albert Crescent (intersection of Chingford Mount Road and Old Church Road) in Chingford.
To find out more about the plastic bag amnesty call 020 8496 3000 or visit www.walthamforest.gov.uk