Carrier bag producers slam bag levy campaign

The UKs plastic carrier bag producers have responded angrily to a campaign to impose a levy on single-use carrier bags, describing it as a blatant misrepresentation of facts.

In a letter to MPs, the Packaging and Films Association (PAFA) and the Carrier Bag Consortium which represents major UK carrier bag suppliers, have claimed that the Break the Bag Habit campaign, launched earlier this month, is a cynical attempt to fill a hole in charity income and claim that a levy on carrier bags would not deliver environmental improvements.

The campaign, backed by groups including the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), Keep Britain Tidy, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) and Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is urging members of the public to write to their local MPs to call for a levy on single-use bags to be introduced (see letsrecycle.com story).

The campaigners claim that a levy is necessary as the number of carrier bags used in England has increased over the past two years despite repeated calls for retailers to reduce the number of bags they give out.

Response

In response, PAFA and the CBC have defended the carrier bag industrys record, claiming that the sectors voluntary code of practice aimed at reducing the impact of plastic bags on the environment has seen the use of virgin plastic fall by 51%.

In the letter to MPs, the trade bodies argued that the campaign has misrepresented an assessment of the impact of carrier bags over their life published by Environment Agency in February 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).

The letter said: The rigorous Environment Agency Life Cycle Analysis (SC 030148) clearly demonstrates that alternatives to the lightweight plastic bag require far more of the earths precious resources to produce and have far higher impacts across a life cycle. We believe this new campaign is a blatant misrepresentation of the facts contained in this report and by targeting carrier bags diverts attention and resources from the macro-environmental issues we face.

Levy

PAFA and the CBC allege that the aim of introducing a levy on the use of plastic bags is to fill a hole in charity income, which they claim has been left by reduced government grants and falling public donations.

Paul Marmot, chairman of the CBC, said: Good environmental practice is about reducing impacts, reusing resources and recycling at the end of life. The plastic carrier bag offers all of these routes to becoming the most environmentally acceptable solution for carrying goods home because it has the lowest impacts in production and transportation, is re-used by around 80% of households and can easily be recycled using more than 5,000 collection point at our supermarkets.

After the introduction of a 5p bag levy in Wales in October 2011, retailers estimated that the number of single-use bags issued has fallen by between 70 and 96%.