Limiting use of plastic bags

Allow me to point out to Valerie Borg (April 1) that if it were up to her party leader (in his speech to react to the 2009 Budget estimates), plastic bags would have today been banned outright from the local market.

Given the fact that we now enjoy the benefits of a common market, people could just travel to neighbouring Sicily to purchase consignments of plastic bags which could have been used easily locally, much to the detriment of our environment. This is reminiscent of the time, not very long ago, when the Maltese people used to buy some of their daily necessities from neighbouring Sicily.

However, since the man at the helm, and the Administration he leads, truly believe in a better environment for all, the chosen option was to impose a fee which serves as a disincentive for the use of plastic bags. At the same time, various environmentally friendly options are also easily available on the market.