Scotland considers legislating over carrier bags

The Scottish government has revealed it will consult this autumn on whether to introduce legislation to reduce the use of plastic carrier bags.

A levy on bag use is set to be one of the options on the table in the consultation, which was formally announced by Scottish environment secretary Richard Lochhead yesterday (August 15).

While recent years have been a general decrease in single-use bag use as a result of a voluntary commitment by retailers, figures published by WRAP last month showed an increase in bag use in the UK between 2009 and 2010.

As a result, the Scottish Government claimed it wanted to tackle the problem head on. Mr Lochhead described the bags as a scourge and a blight and said the administration was determined to drastically cut back on their use.

He welcomed the progress made in by retailers and consumers in cutting bag use but said the aim was to phase out the use of free plastic bags in supermarkets.

We want Scotland to become a zero waste society, he explained. Our consultation, which takes place this autumn, will look at options for cutting plastic bag use even further and, as well pledged in our election campaign, we will consider legislating on this issue if need be.

Charge

Asked whether a charge or levy on bag use would be among the options considered, a spokeswoman for the Scottish Government told letsrecycle.com the short answer is yes. Charging will be part of a range of options on the table, she explained, noting that the consultation document still has to be drawn up with the involvement of stakeholders.There will be some option there that looks at a levy. Consultations are as much about finding out what people dont want as what they do want.

Scotlands pledge to take action following the publication of last months WRAP figures comes in the wake of criticism of the figures from Defra. The rise in bag use was labelled not good enough by recycling minister Lord Henley, who raised the potential of legislation south of the Border as well (see letsrecycle.com story).

Meanwhile, a five pence per bag levy is set to be introduced in Wales on October 1, after the Welsh Assembly Government approved plans for a charge in December 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).

And, in Northern Ireland a consultation was launched last month on a potential levy (see letsrecycle.com story).

Earlier plans for to introduce a bag charge in Scotland were abandoned in 2006 after they failed to win MSPs support (see letsrecycle.com story).