Section:GDN 1N PaGe:14 Edition Date:190801 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 31/7/2019 19:51 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Thursday 1 August 2019
(^14) National
Supermarket
plastic bag
use down by
90% since 5p
charge began
Rebecca Smithers
The use of plastic carrier bags in Eng-
land has continued to decline after the
introduction of the 5p charge. Sales of
single-use shopping bags by all large
retailers in 2018-19 fell by 37% to 1.11 bn
compared with the previous year.
Sales of bags by the seven biggest
supermarkets – Asda, M&S , Morrisons,
Sainsbury’s, the Co-op , Tesco and
Waitrose – are down by 90% since the
levy was introduced in October 2015.
The average consumer in England
now buys just 10 bags a year from the
main supermarket retailers, according
to the new data from the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural
Aff airs , down from 140 bags in 2014.
The new environment secretary,
Theresa Villiers, said: “Our compre-
hensive action to slash plastic waste
and leave our environment in a bet-
ter state continues to deliver results,
with our 5p charge reducing plastic bag
sales by 90% in the big supermarkets.
“No one wants to see the devastating
impact plastic waste is having on our
precious wildlife. Today’s fi gures are
a powerful demonstration that we
are collectively calling time on being
a throwaway society.”
The charge was introduced to help
reduce litter , protect wildlife and
infl uence consumer behaviour after
the number of carriers bags given out
by the seven major supermarkets rose
by 200m in 2014. Consumers were
using more than 7.6bn bags a year ,
amounting to 61,000 tonnes of plastic.
The government has announced
measures to eliminate all avoidable
Source: Defra. Main retailers: Asda, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Co-op, Tesco, Waitrose plastic waste from April 2020.
7.
5.
2.
0
Sales of single-use shopping bags
by all large retailers in 2018-19 fell
by 37% to 1.11bn compared with the
previous year
Bags issued (2014) or sold, billions
2014 2016-17 2017-18 2018-
Number of antisemitic
incidents hits new high
for third year in a row
Harriet Sherwood
A record number of antisemitic inci-
dents were recorded in the UK for the
fi rst six months of this year by a charity
that monitors antisemitism and pro-
vides security for British Jew s.
There were 892 reported incidents ,
a 10% increase on the same period last
year – which also had a record high –
said the Community Security Trust.
More than a third of the incidents
involved social media, again a sig-
nifi cantly higher proportion than in
- The CST said the data was likely
to understate the scale of the problem,
as campaigns directed at individuals
could comprise hundreds or even
thousands of tweets, images or posts
within a concentrated timespan, but
could be recorded by the trust as a sin-
gle incident.
“This is the third year in a row that
the CST has seen an increase in reports
of antisemitic incidents,” said David
Delew , the trust’s chief executive.
“The problem is spreading across the
country and online. It refl ects deep-
ening divisions in our society and it is
causing increasing anxiety in the Jew-
ish community. It will take people of all
communities and backgrounds stand-
ing together to turn this tide of hate
around.”
Almost two-thirds of the incidents
took place in Greater London and
Greater Manchester, home to the two
largest Jewish communities in the
UK. But there was a fall of about 1% in
incidents in those two areas, whereas
in other places, such as in Hertford-
shire, Merseyside, Gateshead, Leeds,
Birmingham and Wales, the trust
recorded an increase.
The number of violent antisemitic
assaults rose from 62 in the fi rst half of
2018 to 85 in the same period of 2019.
None were classifi ed by the CST as
“extreme violence”.
There were 38 incidents of damage
and desecration of Jewish property;
710 of abusive behaviour, including
verbal abuse, graffi ti, abuse via social
media and one-off cases of hate mail;
49 direct threats; and 10 cases of mass-
mailed leafl ets or emails.
Sixty-two public fi gures became tar-
gets, as well as 102 Jewish community
organisations, events and commer-
cial premises.
The highest monthly totals were
in February and March, with 182 and
169 incidents respectively. These were
months when issues relating to Jews
and antisemitism were prominent
because of the continuing controversy
over antisemitism in the Labour party,
the trust said.
In those two months, the trust
recorded 55 incidents specifically
related to allegations of antisemitism
in the Labour party.
The trust has been recording anti-
semitic incidents since 1984 and has
shared its data with the National Police
Chiefs’ Council since 2015.
Mark Hamilton, of the council, said:
“It can never be acceptable to abuse
someone because of their ethnicity
or religion, but we see that there are
still far too many in our society who
are prepared to act illegally, fuelled
by global events, divisions in our own
society, or by bigoted ideologies. The
police will continue to improve our
services to victims and to help bring
off enders to justice.”892
The number of reported incidents
between January and June, a 10%
rise on the same period last year85
The number of violent antisemitic
assaults in the fi rst half of the year,
up from 62 in 201855
The number of incidents specifi cally
related to antisemitism claims in the
Labour party in February and MarchRising hate
‘The problem is
spreading across the
UK and online’David Delew Community
Security TrustРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS