Plastic bag fee could double to 10p and include all retailers

Photo: Rochdale Online

The plastic carrier bag fee could double to 10p

The 5p plastic carrier bag levy in England looks set to double to 10p and include all shops, under plans set out by the environment secretary.

Currently smaller retailers, which supply an estimated 3.6 billion single-use carrier bags on an annual basis, are exempt from the 5p fee.

Trade bodies representing around 40,000 small retailers have already launched a voluntarily approach to a 5p charge, but this accounts for less than one-fifth of England's estimated 253,000 small and medium-sized enterprises.

Government scientists believe plastic in the sea is set to treble in a decade unless marine litter is curbed - with one million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals dying every year from eating and getting tangled in plastic waste.

The consultation launched on Thursday (27 December) will also explore the possibility of increasing the 5p minimum charge to encourage further plastic reduction by consumers, potentially doubling it to 10p.

Speaking on Thursday, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: “The 5p single-use plastic carrier bag charge has been extremely successful in reducing the amount of plastic we use in our everyday lives. Between us, we have taken over 15 billion plastic bags out of circulation.

“But we want to do even more to protect our precious planet and today’s announcement will accelerate further behaviour change and build on the success of the existing charge.”

The change could come into effect in January 2020.

Since the 5p bag charge was introduced in 2015, usage of single-use bags has reduced by 86%, equivalent to just 19 bags per person, compared with 140 bags each before the charge.

5p plastic bag sales have funded thousands of community projects nationwide, contributing over £51m toward charities and other good causes, the latest figures for 2017/18 show.

Earlier this year, the Co-op supermarket announced it will replace the single-use carriers in a phased rollout of an environmentally-friendly compostable alternative, removing around 60 million plastic bags from production.

www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/122451/coop-bans-singleuse-plastics-and-unveils-compostable-carrier-bags

Whilst Modbury in Devon was the first town to become plastic bag-free in May 2007, other bans and taxes had already been in place for a significant period of time; the oldest existing bag tax in the world was introduced in 1994 in Denmark, and Bangladesh became the first country in the world to ban the thin carrier bags in 2002.