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Carrier bag debate continues
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Published: 5/01/2009
Single use carrier bags remained a hot topic as 2008 came to an end, with everyone from the national media, to big business, to the government making their opinions heard. Each year, over 13 billion bags are issued every year in Britain – approximately 220 per person. Only one in 200 are estimated to be recycled. The Climate Change Bill has given the Government powers to charge for single use carrier bags. The Bill gained Royal Assent earlier this month and the Government can take action if they wish to do so to make supermarkets charge customers for single use bags made of plastic or paper. If retailers do not meet their 2007 commitment to reduce the environmental impact of bags by 25% by the end of this year, the Government “may make provision by regulations about charging by sellers of goods for the supply of single use carrier bags”. Marks & Spencer has already introduced charging for bags but stores such as Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s have so far declined to charge customers. In November, four of the country’s leading supermarkets – Asda, Waitrose, Tesco and Morrisons – announced that they expected to reduce the number of single use carrier bags handed to their customers by 50% by April 2009. The four, along with Morrisons, have already cut the number of bags handed out by 20% - 30% through methods including moving bags under the counters so that customers have to request them, promoting ‘bags for life’, and offering incentives through loyalty card schemes. The Climate Change Bill also sets out fixed monetary penalties for those who breach the regulations. It states: “…regulations may grant an administrator to issue fixed penalty notices not exceeding £5,000 to any person who breaches the regulations.” In Wales, the National Assembly’s sustainability committee have proposed a charge of up to 20p for single use bags. It said the money raised could fund environment projects in Wales , with a 20p levy potentially raising almost £14m a year. The proposal has been heavily criticised by the packaging industry. And in Scotland , Liberal Party MSP Mike Pringle has been campaigning for a plastic bag ban, and will be pushing ministers in Scotland to introduce a similar schedule in the Scottish Climate Change Bill. In November, London Councils dropped its bid to force retailers in the capital to charge for shopping bags following government assurances that it was acting to reduce their use. The policy thinktank withdrew its London Shopping Bag Bill from parliament after a letter from environment minister Jane Kennedy said that the government would introduce charges itself should retailers not cut their use of bags. The London Shopping Bag Bill was first raised at Westminster in November 2007 following a survey in which 90% of Londoners were found to support action to reduce the number of shopping bags given out. Meanwhile, on an international level, charging for single use carrier bags became compulsory in Toronto earlier this month, and is currently up for discussion in New York. No doubt the debate over how to manage single use carrier bags will continue well into 2009… One of the key issues related to this area is what happens to carrier bags that have been deposited by consumers for recycling. Some of these bags are bio-degradable and, when mixed with carrier bags derived from oil based polymers, contaminate the resulting material. Some reports have been received that indicate that carrier bags are in some cases being mixed in with back of store film as a means of providing an end market for carrier bags – thus potentially contaminating an even larger material stream. Recoup would be interested in hearing from anyone who can identify an end market which accepts mixed biodegradable and oil based polymer carrier bags.