Bag levy to take effect in England from 2015

Resource minister Lord de Mauley has voiced support for plans unveiled by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg to bring in a 5p charge on single-use carrier bags in England from autumn 2015.

The scheme will mirror similar charges already in effect in Wales and Northern Ireland, with a planned charge for bags in Scotland set to come into effect from October 2014.

Mr Clegg announced the plans at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Glasgow on Saturday (September 14), revealing that small businesses with less than 250 employees would be exempt from having to apply the charge.

He added that the measure was intended to reduce the number of carrier bags going to landfill.

Commenting on the plans, resource minister Lord de Mauley, said: We have all seen the effects of discarded plastic bags caught in trees and hedges or ending up in rivers where they harm animals.

Introducing a small charge for plastic bags will make people think twice before throwing them away. Year-on-year, the number of bags issued by retailers has been rising. Without a charge, the problem could escalate out of control and see our environment and animals suffer enormously.

There are also plans to incentivise businesses for bringing biodegradable plastic bags to market in England. Provided the bags meet the required criteria, these could be exempt from a charge.

Concerns

Meanwhile, plastics recyclers have also voiced concerns over plans to incentivise the use of biodegradable plastic bags, as they say this could undermine the recycling process.

‘Introducing a small charge for plastic bags will make people think twice before throwing them away. Year-on-year, the number of bags issued by retailers has been rising. Without a charge, the problem could escalate out of control and see our environment and animals suffer enormously.’

Lord de Mauley, Defra

According to Roger Baynham, chair of the British Plastic Federations (BPFs) Recycling Group, the move could see large quantities of oxo-degrabable bags enter the waste stream, which could potentially be problematic for firms recycling plastic bags.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com he said: Our concern is that reports suggest that having even a small amount of oxo-degradable polymer in a carrier bag is a barrier to its recyclability. If significant amount of this material was to enter the waste stream it could undermine some of the plastics recycling targets going forward because you would not be able to reprocess this fraction of bags.

Oxo-degradable plastics are made from petroleum-based polymers, usually polyethylene, with metal salts – such as cobalt, iron, nickel and manganese – accelerating degradation when exposed to heat and/or light.

Research carried out on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in 2010 claimed that the material is not suitable for plastics recycling as it could potentially degrade in long-life products made from recycled plastics (see letsrecycle.com story).

Support

Responding to the announcement, the Break the Bag Habit coalition, which is made up of organisations including Keep Britain Tidy and the Campaign to Protect Rural England welcomed the proposals. The group began lobbying the government over a levy in August 2012.

Andy Cummins, spokesperson for campaign group, said: We are delighted that the government has finally listened to the Break the Bag Habit campaign and the thousands of supporters whove written letters and signed petitions calling for this moment.

Finally the government will help improve the environments we all love so much by implementing a policy that the Break the Bag Habit has shown to be popular with the public and effective in reducing litter.

The Plastics and Film Association (PAFA), which has been a vocal opponent of the measure and has questioned the environmental benefit of introducing a charge for single use bags.

A spokesman for PAFA told letsrecycle.com that it is currently analysing data published in July by the Welsh Government which suggested that bag usage had fallen by as much as 76% since the imposition of a charge but it believes that the levy has led to sales of purpose-made bin liners increasing.

Barry Turner PAFA chief executive, said, This announcement sends many mixed messages and ignores the reality of Environment Agency studies that show plastic carriers have lower overall impacts than any other material when properly re-used and recycled. The encouragement being shown to so-called biodegradable bags is also wholly unsupportable as such bags are made to deliberately go to waste and are not currently regulated by any quality standards.

Also it is potentially anti-competitive to exempt smaller retailers particularly after the last four years during which the retailers have invested in infrastructure at front of store to allow consumers to return bags for recycling.