Clegg calls on supermarkets to implement 5p plastic bag tax

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/env...o-charity.html

Clegg calls on supermarkets to donate new plastic bag charge to charity

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has unveiled plans for 5p charge on plastic bags in England and called on supermarkets to pass on the money raised to environmental charities.

Nick Clegg will announce a 5p charge on plastic bags

Clegg confirmed that supermarkets will be able to decide whether or not to pass on the money raised by the mandatory charge to charities, raising the possibility they could keep the windfall.

Announcing the policy at the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow, he said he hoped firms would give the cash to good causes.

The charge is being introduced after the number of plastic bags used rose to seven billion a year – following a warning by ministers that if supermarkets failed to reduce the number used they would be forced to step in and take action.

The scheme, which will come into force in 2015 after the next general election, is already in use in Northern Ireland and Wales, which have both seen the number of single use bags fall. The government in Scotland has also announced they will introduce a 5p charge next year.

Clegg said: "Plastic carrier bags blight our towns and countryside. They take hundreds of years to degrade and can kill animals.

"This is not a new problem. We've waited too long for action. That's why I am drawing a line under the issue now. The charge will be implemented sensibly - small businesses will be exempt.

"We will discuss with retailers how the money raised should be spent but I call on them to follow the lead of industry in Wales and donate the proceeds to charity."

The charge will only apply to firms with more than 250 employees and the Government will also incentivise biodegradable bags by making them exempt from the levy.

A senior Government source said he was "extremely confident" that the money would be handed over to charities.

In Northern Ireland the levy has been so successful, reducing the number of bags by 80 per cent, they are doubling the charge to 10p. In Wales there has been a 76 per cent drop in plastic bag use since the charge was launched in 2011.

The Government’s Waste and Resources Action Programme found the number of bags used in England increased by almost 800 million over two years. No new legislation is needed to introduce the charge, as this is already covered by the Climate Change Act 2008.

Yet more meddling - and as for claims that plastic bags take 1,000 years to rot away: that claim itself is total and utter rot.

The irony here is that the organisation behind this campaign (the Daily Mail) to tax plastic bags is the very same newspaper that (rightly) constantly criticises the government on running the nanny state and meddling where it isn't needed ... yet here is the very same newspaper calling for a 5p tax to be brought in, by law, on private companies. That's sort of like the Guardian newspaper calling for controlled immigration or a flat rate of tax - it just doesn't add up.

Of course as usual with good sounding pieces of legislation, there will be unintended consquences - many of the supermarket bags people use are taken home and thus reused for many of things such as taking out the rubbish or using the bags to collect up dog waste - now with supermarket bags costing, it's likely that people are going to have to go out and buy large plastic bin bags and dog litter bags (if they bother).

Thoughts?

[FlyingJesus]

If they take 100s of years to degrade how come I had to hoover up the dusty remains of a few under my bed that had obliterated themselves after a couple of months also this doesn't make any sense as a "tax" - it goes to the company so only they benefit, which is fine if it's advised or optional but having a mandatory extra charge for shopping at a supermarket seems rather daft

[lemons]

i'm fine with it only 5p

they already do this in germany and if you keep your empty bottles then you get money back for them when you put them in a machine

[Red]

sounds good to doante it to charity. We already have the tax in like every shop so it was so weird seeing people say no to bags the first week or so lmao Used to it know though and when I go shopping I usually just stick one in my handbag.

[Jurv]

good idea, my family keep a load of plastic bags in our kitchen so hopefully when this is put into place it'll encourage us and other people to reuse the ones they already have or buy one of those other reuseable ones. it's horrible when you see them being thrown on the floor or just flying around somewhere

[MKR&*42]

So either way ill be paying for s bag at a supermarket?... I reuse all my current bags for a trashcan in my room and I dont usually plan when I'm going to end up shopping.

Silly law in so many ways and I can't believe its mandatory.

[Sian]

they do it in the channel islands, works a treat. People use too many of them, and that tax would make far more sense than the spare bedroom tax...

[Ardemax]

It's been in Wales for a while now and it has done absolute wonders. The purchase of plastic bags is down something like 80% I think?

EDIT: turns out I just skipped over the last bit, yeah 76%. Pretty good statistic that.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Why do you all require the government to force you to reuse your shopping bags?

[Red]

Why do you all require the government to force you to reuse your shopping bags?

They aren't biodegradeable so surely reducing the amount can only be a good thing. I always used to take bags when I had no need for them and being charged means you take one only when you really need it.