17 Dec, 2010 @ 09:00
1 min read
2

Bag tax fury

EXCLUSIVE by Anatoly Kurmanaev

FUENGIROLA council has come under attack for being the only Andalucian town hall to oppose a green plastic bag tax.

The measure introduced to fight the spread of ‘plastic poison’ in the sea is being opposed by business owners complaining of extra costs.

And incredibly Fuengirola town hall has backed their bid to delay the tax.

“Its such stupidity,” local Green Party boss Victor Blasco told the Olive Press.

“The town hall’s lack of willpower amazes me. Ecology and sustainability are simply not part of its lexicon.”

In a bid to cut back on plastic bag use businesses would have to charge five cents for each plastic bag.

The Olive Press launched a campaign against plastic bags as long ago as 2008.

But councillor Pedro Vega claims the Junta is only doing it to generate around 95 million euros. “He’s completely missing the point as it would discourage shoppers using bags,” said Blasco.

Fuengirola has recently been declared the least transparent town hall in Spain by Transparency International.

Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)

Jon Clarke is a Londoner who worked at the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday as an investigative journalist before moving to Spain in 2003 where he helped set up the Olive Press.

After studying Geography at Manchester University he fell in love with Spain during a two-year stint teaching English in Madrid.

On returning to London, he studied journalism and landed his first job at the weekly Informer newspaper in Teddington, covering hundreds of stories in areas including Hounslow, Richmond and Harrow.

This led on to work at the Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Mirror, Standard and even the Sun, before he landed his first full time job at the Daily Mail.

After a year on the Newsdesk he worked as a Showbiz correspondent covering mostly music, including the rise of the Spice Girls, the rivalry between Oasis and Blur and interviewed many famous musicians such as Joe Strummer and Ray Manzarak, as well as Peter Gabriel and Bjorn from Abba on his own private island.

After a year as the News Editor at the UK’s largest-selling magazine Now, he returned to work as an investigative journalist in Features at the Mail on Sunday.

As well as tracking down Jimi Hendrix’ sole living heir in Sweden, while there he also helped lead the initial investigation into Prince Andrew’s seedy links to Jeffrey Epstein during three trips to America.

He had dozens of exclusive stories, while his travel writing took him to Jamaica, Brazil and Belarus.

He is the author of three books; Costa Killer, Dining Secrets of Andalucia and My Search for Madeleine.

Contact jon@theolivepress.es

2 Comments

  1. Do you want to explain what the problem is with the biodegradable plastic bags I get from the supermarket? I use them to for the dustbin, so they all get at least two lives. Would it be somehow better for me or the planet if I bought purpose made binbags?

  2. You can’t even take your own reusable bags into many supermarkets. They insist that you lock them up in a cupboard so you have to use their plastic bags instead. A great way of raising more taxes rather than actually reducing plastic bag waste. Worse still, some supermarkets make you seal your plastic bag inside yet another plastic bag while at the same time asking you to reduce your use of plastic bags!! How about some common sense? Oh sorry I forgot this is Spain.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Previous Story

Mantecado – a Spanish Christmas treat

Next Story

Benidorm’s Christmas special

Latest from Environment

Go toTop