Gordon Brown today announced that he will use the law to stop supermarkets giving away free plastic bags within the next 12 months.
Supermarkets that do not voluntarily start charging customers for plastic bags are expected to be punished to pay an extra tax of at least 5p a bag.
Brown made his pledge (保证) as the Guardian revealed that government departments handed out nearly one million special-made plastic bags themselves, mostly in connection with publicity campaigns.
Writing in the Daily Mail, which this week launched a war to cut the use of plastic bags, the prime minister said that "over time we should aim to get rid of the single-use plastic bag altogether".
In a speech last November, Brown urged shopkeepers to cut the use of plastic bags. In his article he praised Ikea, which has cut its bag use by 95% recently, and Marks & Spencer, which this week announced that it would ask for a 5p charge on bags from May.
The prime minister said that he was now willing to use laws to ensure that other stores followed the Marks & Spencer's lead.
"I am convinced we need to act — and the time to act is now. And I want to make it clear that if government law is needed to make the change, we will take the necessary steps. We do not take such steps lightly — but the damage single-use plastic bags inflict (强加于) on the environment is such that strong action must be taken. The important thing is to come up with a scheme that will be of most benefit, most quickly — and ideally at the same time provide funds for organizations that help protect our environment."
Brown said he was reminded of the scale of the problem every week when he saw the number of bags supplied with his family shopping.
"Like many working families with children, Sarah and I often use supermarket deliveries for the weekly shopping. And as millions of others in Britain who do the same, we are left with a bin full of plastic bags in the end, with each bag sometimes just containing a handful of items. This cannot be right."
Brown revealed that the government had been looking at the way other countries were dealing with the problem.
"We are looking at all this international evidence to see what steps we in Britain should take," he said.
【小题1】Where can readers most probably find this passage?| A．Shopping information magazines. | B．Business magazines. |
| C．Professional plastic industry papers. | D．Common daily newspapers. |
| A．Government officials in charge of the plastic industry. |
| B．Common people voluntarily avoiding using plastic bags. |
| C．Department stores supporting the action in this country. |
| D．Producers making plastic bags. |
| A．Marks & Spencer will charge for the plastic bag from this May. |
| B．Some stores have been punished for not charging for plastic bags. |
| C．Supermarkets will only charge 5p for each plastic bag. |
| D．Other countries have been carrying out the action successfully. |
| A．few bags | B．too many bags |
| C．a bin | D．a wrong bag |
