PLASTIC CARRIER BAGS

That this House congratulates IKEA on its decision on the UN's World Environment Day to make its plastic carrier bags biodegradable, to charge for them and to donate the proceeds to the organisation Community Forests; notes that the UK uses seventeen and a half billion plastic carrier bags every year, the equivalent of 290 bags for every person, all of which add to landfill sites and energy use in their production; and calls on the Government to create a scheme based on quality kite marking to which private sector companies who wish to bring forward environmentally friendly proposals such as reducing plastic bag consumption can apply.