I believe the actions in this petition are necessary to tackle head on the problems that the environment faces in this country and abroad.
The current situation concerning education and teaching of the environment is insufficient. Currently it is up to local authorities to decide whether or not to teach the environment even though they are strongly encouraged to do so. I believe that it should not be optional to local authorities as the environment is such a big part of our lives that it must be compulsory to be taught.
Currently supermarkets are not doing enough to firstly, tackle the problem of increasing waste and secondly, encourage the public to reduce their waste (e.g. Encouraging the use of re-usable bags). The work of the Scottish Government and Zero Waste Scotland is to be commended for attempting to help in this area but their work is not going far enough. The mandatory charge for plastic bags, due to come into effect on 20th October 2014, is a positive step but it will not go far enough as people will pay the 5p charge and think nothing of it. I believe that the proposals in this petition are the next step and are possible as shown in California which has moved to ban plastic bags.