Northern Irelands bag usage falls by up to 80%

Carrier bag usage may have fallen by as much as 80% in Northern Ireland since a 5p levy on single use bags was introduced in April, data released by the Department of the Environment suggests.

Environment Minister Mark H Durkan has welcomed the provisional Carrier Bag Levy figures for the first quarter of 2013/14, showing that 17.5 million single use carrier bags were dispensed by retailers throughout the April to June period.

This compares to an estimated 300 million carrier bags dispensed during the previous year before the levy came into effect a total of 75 million per quarter.

However, the Department is reluctant to use the data for a single quarter as a basis to predict the likely annual reduction for the entire retail sector due to seasonal variations, and will await further data for full analysis.

Commenting on the initial results, Mr Durkan, said: This is great news for the environment. Our streets and hedgerows, our fields and parks should no longer be places strewn with discarded bags. In many ways the public are ahead of government here, showing a great appetite for this legislation to be introduced.

I commend people for their responsible attitude and willingness to come on board. They are making a personal contribution to addressing the threat of climate change and environmental damage. I very much urge them to keep up the momentum keep reusing bags.

Retailers

Under the Single Use Carrier Bags Charge Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013, which came into effect from April 8 2013 (see letsrecycle.com story) retailers are required to charge at least 5p for each single use carrier bag supplied new to customers and pay the net proceeds of the levy to the DOE.

The Northern Irish executive has also submitted plans to increase the minimum charge for single and multi-use carrier bags to 10p from next April (see letsrecycle.com story).

Similar charges are due to come into effect in Scotland from October 2014 following plans announced in June 2013, while the Welsh Government introduced a levy on thin gauge bags in September 2011 with results published last month showing that bag usage in Wales may have fallen by up to 76%.

The same figures, which covered the 2012 calendar year, also showed that the number of carrier bags issued in England had risen by 4.4%, more than any of the other countries in the United Kingdom (see letsrecycle.com story).

Defra has yet to indicate whether a levy will be imposed on retailers in England, with resource minister Lord de Mauley commenting in a debate on the issue in May that Defra is actively considering a charge on carrier bags, based on the experience in the devolved administrations.