With an estimated 480 million plastic bags being used in Wales each year, the proposals could see retailers forced to charge between five and 15 pence a bag, using powers granted under the Climate Change Act 2008.
She said: “I support the voluntary agreement but I want to make more of a difference in Wales. This agreement does not cover all retailers and means that half of all plastic bags are still used for one shopping trip.”
“I want to look at how we can further reduce the amount of single use carrier bags and how we can encourage more people to re-use bags,” she added.
The WAG is seeking views on issues including: what type of bags should be included in a charge; which retailers should charge for bags; how much should the charge be; how should records be kept of these charges and how should they be published; and, how would the scheme be administered and enforced.
LCO
The charge would be administered through legislation called the Environment Legislative Competence Order (ELCO), which was laid in Parliament for pre-legislative scrutiny on April 27 2009, following the completion of discussions with the UK Government.
The legislation enables the Assembly to make Welsh laws, known as ‘measures', on the environment (see letsrecycle.com story).
The WAG will be able to impose a charge on retailers, but it is not yet able to tell them what to do with the money they raise from a levy.
Last month, the Welsh Assembly Government launched a bi-lingual radio and website campaign – ‘Get Carried Away' – to encourage people to reuse their single-use carrier bags and help them remember to take their bags with them when they go shopping. The first 1,000 people who registered with the site will receive a re-usable bag (see letsrecycle.com story).
The consultation closes on September 21 2009, and the WAG has said that the earliest any proposed regulations could be approved is summer 2010, with regulations coming into force in late 2010 or early 2011.
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