UK: anti-freesheet group lobbies Prime Minister

Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on October 5, 2007 at 11:36 AM

The Project Freesheet group is lobbying the Prime Minister in its battle to ban the distribution of the London Paper and London Lite freesheets. It has posted petitions online and posted a video on the Friction TV site.

The group’s main objection to freesheets, until now, has been the problem of discarded newspapers on the streets. The Wesminster Council has already warned the papers to partake in their recycling costs.

Says Justin Canning, the group’s founder: "London Lite and the London Paper use over 1,000 distributors between them to hand out close to 1m free newspapers every day. The councils of London would need a whopping 4,000 extra recycling bins to capture just half of these free newspapers that are given away."

Both papers have announced they will be taking steps to resolve the litter and waste problems. They plan to buy and manage 32 recycling bins, and their publishers, Associated Newspapers and News International, will conduct regular litter collections.

Seems this doesn’t satisfy Canning and his group of freebie opponents, in a new scenario for 'freesheet wars'.

Source: Media Guardian