‘Further work needed’ to assess bag charge exemption

The Department published its long-awaited ‘Review of standards for biodegradable plastic carrier bags’ today (17 December) after a three month delay.

The report concludes that further work would need to be done to establish quality standards for biodegradable plastics if they were to be exempt from the charge. This spells further delays for the proposed exemption of biodegradable bags from the 5p levy – a proposal that has proved divisive since its announcement.

The 5p charge came into effect in England in October, and must be levied by large retailers on all plastic bags handed out in-store. However, the charge does not apply to paper bags and the government is also keen to implement plans to exempt biodegradable bags from the charge.

Exemption

Ministers had intended that the biodegradable plastic bags would be exempt from the charge from the start, but this was put on hold after the Department concluded that standards for the material would need to be agreed to establish how an exemption would work (see letsrecycle.com story).

The Department would also need to decide which types of biodegradable plastic would be included in the exemption, with potential for either oxo-biodegradable or plant-based biodegradable materials likely to be eligible.

With today’s report stating that there are no sufficient standards in existence to determine the environmental impacts of either or both types of biodegradable bag, further research will be required if Defra is to press ahead with the proposal.

Research

In its summary of the report, Defra concluded: “We will need to conduct further work before any of these could be used to exempt certain types of carrier bags on grounds of biodegradability.

“By the end of May 2016 retailers are required to report the number of bags that have been supplied, and the uses to which the proceeds of the charge have been put, after reasonable costs are deducted. The government will use that opportunity to consider the early impacts of the charge. The government will continue to consider the technical specification for a genuinely biodegradable bag, and will at that point further report on how an exemption for such a biodegradable bag can be implemented.”

Opponents of the exemption for biodegradable bags say that it is not possible to recycle degradable bags alongside standard plastic carriers due to the difference in the structure of the material and promoting their use could undermine the recycling of plastic films.

The cross-party Environmental Audit Committee also criticised Defra for the proposal, describing the bag charge legislation as ‘a complete mess’ (see letsrecycle.com story).