Sadly my nice photo of Andrew Thornton (Budgens, Crouch End) and myself is blurred beyond use – so I can’t show you me proudly clutching my Crouch End Shopping Bag at its launch.

The lights were turned on and children from three local schools walking together down Crouch End Broadway to the Town Hall Square to sing carols – but the star of the night is really what Crouch End traders are doing by their drive to cut out plastic bag use in the area and encourage people to use reusable bags instead.

I have also written to all the supermarkets in Hornsey & Wood Green, urging them to supply a recycling bin in store near their checkouts so that people can discard the dreadfully overdone packaging at site.

Just to give you an idea of what can be achieved if a store is willing to commit to this, here are Budgen’s most recent statistics:

• They have cut the average weekly usage from 35,000 to 16,000
• They estimate that more than half of their customers now bring their own bags with them
• They have saved over 220,000 carrier bags so far

Not bad for just five months work! They are now planning to ban free carrier bags totally from March. And they are putting the large multiple chains to shame – who are aiming for a measly 25% cut over two years. If Budgens can do so much more so much quicker, why are they dragging their feet? Perish the thought that they aren’t just as well run as Budgens!