Maria Miller, MP for Basingstoke, called in at the Lush shop in Festival Place recently, to hear about their campaign to reduce the use of plastic carrier bags. Lush had carried out a survey over a ten day period asking their customers whether they would welcome the introduction of a 5p charge on single-use carrier bags and found that everyone they asked supported the charge.

Maria met Sorrel Griggs, the Basingstoke Lush shop’s “Green Hero”, who was wearing a dress made up of over 400 plastic carrier bags, highlighting that the average person in the UK uses some 400 carrier bags a year.

Maria said: “Plastic bags so often end up littering our towns and countryside, and I welcome steps to reduce the number of bags being used.  I applaud Basingstoke Lush customers for showing that they want to reduce the use of plastic bags too. “

She added: “These days many of us have got used to carrying a reusable bag around with us, and this can only help our environment.”