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Most plastic bags are used and thrown away, and the environment can no longer support this. Farms signed up to the Land Stewardship Scheme with GOB, are now, since Monday 23 October, using paper bags in which to serve their goods.

When we go shopping, it is usual to put each item we buy separately in simple plastic bags. The fruit in one, the lettuce in another, the bread in another…And so when we get home, a good number of these bags, which are only accessories and are not easy to reuse, end up in the rubbish.

As they are made of plastic, they take many years to degrade in rubbish tips and during that time they become easily uncontrollable but blown around by the wind, finishing in the natural environment, in the sea or on land, provoking other negative effects.

To lessen this problem and to demonstrate that there are alternatives, the Agricultural Farms, which are part of the Network of Farms signed up with GOB to the Land Stewardship Scheme, are making available paper bags for this short term packaging of their food products.

GOB, with an agreement with the Consell Insular, has distributed 15,000 paper bags between these producers of food merchandise who have a special commitment to conserving the environment.

Reducing the use of non-biodegradable materials is a necessity for our society. We must think carefully where we make our purchases and ask vendors not to put out plastic bags but use paper ones instead.