Defra steps away from biodegradable bag exemption

Defra looks to be stepping away from its initial plans to make biodegradable carrier bags exempt from the planned 5p plastic bag levy, which is set to come into effect in October 2015.

Responding today (June 17 2014) to a parliamentary committee report on the bag levy proposals, Defra said the exemption for biodegradable bags will not be included in the legislation until standards for the bags have been finalised.

Previously, the government had suggested that biodegradable bags would be exempt from the scheme in England, but Defra said today that this represents a challenge to UK industry to produce a genuinely biodegradable plastic bag, adding that it is not aware that such a plastic bag currently exists.

In the meantime, the government is looking to develop biodegradable bag standards with the industry because it believes there will always be a need for some form of bag, for example for impulse buys.

Defras response states: We expect to see a significant reduction in the distribution of single-use plastics bags once the charge is introduced, with a significant proportion of the remaining single-use plastic bag use moving to biodegradable bags once the standard is finalised and suitable bags reach the market.

Committee

The Departments comments come in response to the Environmental Audit Committees report on the proposed bag levy in February, which the described Defras plans as a complete mess, while adding that the levy must be kept simple if it is to work in England when it comes into effect in 2015 (see letsrecycle.com story).

The EAC report had said that the biodegradable bag exemption as well as an exemption for retailers with fewer than 250 employees designed to reduce the burden on start-up businesses would make it confusing for consumers, potentially harmful for the recycling industry and less effective than the scheme which currently exists in Wales.

Opponents of the exemption for biodegradable bags also have said 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.

Defras response today states that it is well aware of the concerns regarding contamination of the recycling stream with biodegradable plastics and are addressing this with feasibility studies considering innovative solutions to detect and separate out plastics when mixed in the waste stream.

The government has provided 85,000 funding for four feasibility studies on alternative bag materials, which are set to be completed by March 2015.

If these studies prove promising, Defra said it may invest further in 2014/15 to help develop them into prototypes, which can take a couple of years.

Defras response adds: We will carefully assess the impact on the industry before introducing any exemption for biodegradable bags.

Bag levy proceeeds

Elsewhere, the government rejected many of the recommendations made by the EAC with regards to the 5p plastic bag levy, which was included in the Queens Speech earlier this month (see letsrecycle.com story).

The EAC recommended that VAT proceeds from the levy should be spent on new environmental programmes to cover the costs of monitoring the scheme, but Defra responded that hypothecating revenues to particular spending programmes imparts inflexibility in spending decisions and can lead to a misallocation of resources, with reduced value for money for taxpayers.

Commenting on the government’s response today, EAC chair Joan Walley MP said: Despite our committees recommendations, the government has decided not to apply the charge across the board, but to go ahead with its proposed exemptions. That risks diluting the benefits of the charge. The decision to only include large retailers is particularly short-sighted and ignores calls from all of the main small retailer organisations to be included in the scheme.

“I am pleased, however, that the government has conceded that the proposed exemption for biodegradable plastic bags could cause problems for the UKs recycling industry and will now not be included when the charge is introduced next year.