Following the decision by the Local Government Association (LGA) to lobby for a plastic bag tax to raise public awareness of waste issues (see letsrecycle.com story), the BRC has said the levy already operating in Ireland has not seen a real change in plastics consumption.
”A national campaign with one single message to deliver to consumers is the way to go. “
– Nigel Smith, BRC's CSR director
The BRC said the Irish plastic bag tax has created other problems since its introduction in 2002 including a 1000% increase in the consumption of bin liners and a rise in shoplifting. It has also seen many shops switch to providing paper carrier bags which are exempt from the material-specific tax.
Nigel Smith, BRC's corporate social responsibility director, explained: “If you go out to Ireland and spoke to the retailers on the whole would welcome a plastic bag tax. But for high street shopping there is more impact because it is more spontaneous, unlike a supermarket where people can plan and take their own bags.”
He added that in Ireland many high street shops have switched to using paper bags which are more bulky than plastic bags and therefore have transportation and storage issues. “This means four times as much traffic on the roads carting around paper bags,” he said, “It is very different for Debenhams and Next than Tesco and Sainbury's.”
Recycled bags
The BRC also pointed out that the introduction of a tax on plastic carrier bags would undermine efforts made by retailers to make their carrier bags more sustainable. Tesco recently started to roll out biodegradable plastic carrier bags to all its supermarkets in an attempt to tackle litter problems and electrical retailer Dixons introduced 100% recycled plastic bags to all its stores over December 2003 and January 2004.
The BRC said: “The introduction of a tax on carriers will unfairly penalise the innovative steps being made towards the manufacture of bags from recycled plastics. A tax should incentivise and encourage markets for recycled plastic carriers instead of penalising alternatives. This will also ring true for biodegradable bags.”
Awareness
A tax on plastic bags would only tackle that single waste stream and not encourage waste minimisation in other areas, Mr Smith said.
Retailers are keen to participate in a “proper national campaign”, he said, to address wasteful consumer habits for a number of issues including plastic bags, electronics, batteries and general packaging. He added that the BRC welcomes the continuation of the waste awareness campaign Rethink Rubbish through funding from WRAP.
“It's not going to happen overnight,” Mr Smith said, “A national campaign with one single message to deliver to consumers is the way to go.”
In its decision to support a plastic bag tax, the LGA recognised that retailers may have concerns with the tax, especially the loss of free advertising, but the BRC has said that this is a minor issue in its opposition to a levy.
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