Selkirk OnLine
Selkirk's got a brand new Bag!
Emma Forbes (left) winner of the re-usable bags logo competition, with competition organiser Jenna Agate and Stephanie Brown (highly commended). Not pictured: poster winner Grant Beaton who was ill.
PRIZE-winning primary pupils showed off their designs for Selkirk’s very own eco-shopping bags this week after the top designs were picked in a competition.
Five-year-old Emma Forbes of St Joseph’s Primary School drew the Court House as a familiar Selkirk landmark, while Grant Beaton of Philiphaugh Community School created the colourful slogan ‘Plastic bag free Selkirk’. The two will be combined to decorate the sides of bags, which will be handed out in the Market Place on April 4 as part of Selkirk’s bid to become the first town in Scotland to be plastic bag free.
Eight other pupils’ entries were highly commended, including Stephanie Brown of Philiphaugh school. Teacher Vaila Tait of Philiphaugh said: “It was the eco-committee who did the posters, and they got quite fired up about it – they’re looking around for plastic bags and telling me they shouldn’t be there.”
Campaign organiser Jenna Agate said: “We had getting on for 100 entries and I was so impressed. “The standard was very high, the kids had obviously been really inspired. I’m really thinking now that Selkirk is going to be the first in Scotland to go plastic bag free, which is such a great thing for the town.”
However, bag manufacturers this week attacked Selkirk’s plastic bag free plans. Neil Young of Glasgow-based Simpac Ltd, which makes plastic, paper and other types of bag, wrote to Jenna protesting at the scheme. He said that in Ireland, where a plastic bag tax was introduced, retailers had started using paper bags instead. He said these were more bulky and so caused more pollution as they were made and transported, and took up more space in landfill. He said Ireland now uses more plastic as people buy bags to dispose of rubbish, nappies and dog dirt, for which they previously used carrier bags. He also said some of the alternative shopping bags were made by people working in dangerous and unhygienic conditions.
However, Jenna rejected their claims: “I think what we need to remember is that he sells plastic bags, so his interest is in dissing our campaign, because he’s going to lose business. The cotton we’re getting is recycled, fair trade for a fair price from places where children aren’t abused, and we can do our bit in that way. Our bag has good ecological credentials.”
You can visit the site at http://www.selkirkplasticbagfree.co.uk.
SoL 2007