Libraries Introduce 'Bag for Life'

Sheffield City Council and Veolia Environmental Services are joining forces to make visits to Sheffield’s libraries even greener.

 

The council will stop using plastic carrier bags in all libraries and is introducing a new ‘Bag for Life’ for their customers from Tuesday 29th January. The bag for life is a jute bag made from 100% natural fibres and will be sold for £1.00 across the city. The £1.00 charge contributes to the cost of the bag with no profits being made.

 

Councillor Jan Wilson, Leader of Sheffield City Council said: "At the moment we give our borrowers plastic bags to carry their books, CDs or DVDs home. Working in partnership with Veolia we have been able to produce a high quality eco friendly bag that can be used over and over again and isn’t damaging to the environment. We appreciate the plastic bags used previously were not an environmentally friendly option and have been working to introduce the ‘bag for life’ across all libraries."

 

Any remaining plastic bag stocks will be issued at a charge of 10p. Once these stocks have gone they will not be replenished and only the ‘bag for life’ will be available.

 

Councillor Wilson continued: "We want to encourage as many library users as possible to adopt the eco friendly version in place of plastic bags. Borrowing is already greener than buying. For every 500,000 books borrowed rather than bought we can save 500 trees from being cut down. Small changes can make a real difference."

 

The launch of the bags compliments the Council’s on going campaign to encourage more people to borrow from their libraries as a greener alternative. On Valentines Day (14th February only), all new members joining the library across the city will receive a bag for life absolutely free.

 

Martin Simpson, Managing Director of Veolia in Sheffield comments: "We are very pleased to support the Council with this green initiative and hope that the ‘borrow, reuse, recycle’ theme will catch-on across the city. The bags offer a great alternative to plastic and are much more durable for carrying your books."

The ‘bag for life’ is a partnership project between Sheffield City Council Libraries, Archives and Information Services and Veolia Environmental Services. Veolia has sponsored 50% towards the total cost of bags.

 

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