Bye to plastic bag full of trouble

A government tax on plastic bags was introduced here in Ireland many years ago and it proved to be a very successful programme with an almost immediate impact on the environment. I think that it is only a matter of time before it is introduced throughout the rest of the world.

Here is a contrary view which was published in the Telegraph in the UK late last year:

Waste advisors to the Government have today warned against a tax on plastic bags on the basis that it could have a detrimental effect on the environment.

Plastic bag tax 'would increase waste'

Ireland’s levy on plastic bags 'led to five times more plastic being used'

Experts have suggested that a ban or levy on plastic bags would actually lead to much greater volumes of plastic being used because people would need more bin liners and rubbish sacks.

Research by the Government-funded Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) found that a levy on plastic bags in Ireland only made matters worse.

WRAP believes that advocates of a tax, such as the 33 London boroughs, have underestimated how many plastic bags are used currently to put out recycling or as substitutes for plastic bin bags.

A levy on plastic would also be likely to mean a switch towards paper which uses more energy in production and releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas, when they degrade in landfill, according to WRAP.

Liz Goodwin, WRAP’s chief executive, warned: “You have to decide which problem you are trying to deal with, litter or the volume of plastic used. We have got to remember that taxes and levies can have perverse effects – such as making people use more plastic rather than less.

“Our focus should be on reducing environmental impacts of the bags by making them lighter or out of recycled content.”

Industry sources say that Ireland’s levy on plastic bags led to five times more plastic being used.

WRAP doubts this estimate but says it calculates that a ban or a levy would still lead to more plastic being used than at present because one form of bag would be substituted by another.

In Britain, over 13 billion bags are issued every year to shoppers – roughly 220 per person every year.

Billions of shopping bags are sent to landfill every year. 

GLOBAL TREND

Ireland's success story with its plastic bag surcharge is rippling across the world.

Here is a list of other countries & continents that already restrict plastic shopping bags or plan to do so:

AFRICA -- Rwanda and Eritrea banned the bags outright, as has Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia. South Africa, Uganda and Kenya have minimum thickness rules, and Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho and Tanzania are considering similar measures.

AUSTRALIA -- Coles Bay in Tasmania became 'Australia's First Plastic Bag-Free Town' in April 2003. Dozens of others followed suit. In January 2008, the environment minister called for supermarkets to phase out use of the bags nationwide by the end of the year.

BANGLADESH -- The first large country to ban bags in 2002. Bangladesh blamed millions of discarded bags for blocking drains and contributing to floods that submerged much of the country in 1988.

BHUTAN -- The isolated Himalayan country banned plastic shopping bags, street advertising and tobacco in 2007, as part of its policy to foster 'Gross National Happiness'.

CHINA -- The ban on ultra-thin bags that goes into force on June 1 will cut pollution and save valuable oil resources, the State Council, or cabinet, says. In May 2007 Hong Kong proposed a 50 cent 'polluter pays' levy on plastic shopping bags.

ENGLAND -- In May 2007 the village of Modbury in south Devon became Europe's first plastic bag-free town, selling reuseable and biodegradable bags instead. London's 33 councils plan to ban ultra-thin bags from 2009 and tax others.

FRANCE -- In 2005, French lawmakers voted to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags by 2010. The French island of Corsica became the first to ban plastic bags in large stores in 1999.

INDIA -- The western state of Maharashtra banned the manufacture, sale and use of plastic bags in August 2005, after claims that they choked drains during monsoon rains. Other states banned ultra-thin bags to cut pollution and deaths of cattle, sacred to Hindus, which eat them.

IRELAND -- Our plastic bag tax was passed in 2002. The tax created an initial 90% drop in bag use, according to the Environment Ministry, though usage gradually rebounded.

ITALY -- Outright ban to be introduced from 2010.

TAIWAN -- A partial ban in 2003 phased out free bags in department stores and supermarkets and disposable plastic plates, cups and cutlery from fast food outlets. Most stores charge people who don't bring their own T$1 (€0.02).

UNITED STATES -- San Francisco became the first and only U.S. city to outlaw plastic grocery bags in April 2008. The ban is limited to large supermarkets.

The state of New Jersey is mulling phasing them out by 2010.

In January 2008 New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill forcing large retailers to set up plastic bag recycling programmes and to make recycled bags available.