Wales prepares for introduction of 5p bag charge

The charge, which became law in December 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story) will see Wales become the first UK country to force retailers to charge a minimum amount for single-use bags.

Posters are being displayed at train stations and inside buses across Wales. At the end of the month buses will also have adverts on their sides.

In March information packs explaining the charge were sent to all retailers in Wales and in July, the government announced that retailers with less than 10 members of staff will be exempt from keeping records of their carrier bag usage.

Wales environment and sustainable development minister, John Griffiths, said: Here in Wales the imminent introduction of our carrier bag charge is ensuring that people are thinking, and talking, about the problem of carrier bags. Just last week, figures were published showing that the people of Wales had reduced their carrier bag use by 7% over the last year.

Theres no doubt that we still have a long way to go in reducing carrier bag use in Wales, as figures show that last year 329 million bags were given out by the major supermarkets alone. But I am confident that the charge will help us drive down carrier bag use and I hope next years figures will show another reduction.

Whilst Mr Griffiths said that reducing single use carrier bag use was not going to solve all our environmental problems,he said it woulddeliver an important message about the need to live much more sustainable lives.

Money

The money raised by the charge will not be coming to government but will be passed on to good causes, particularly those benefiting the environment, by retailers.

As a result of the charge, the Government expects to see a 90% reduction in the number of bags distributed in Wales, and for retailers to pass on up to 3 million to environmental and other projects.

Mr Griffiths said: The idea of the charge is not to make people pay for carrier bags. Rather it is to encourage shoppers to make use of the bags they already have. No one has to pay the charge; we can avoid it by simply remembering to carry bags with us when we do our shopping.

Bags

In 2009, supermarkets in Wales handed out 350 million carrier bags equivalent to 273 per household.

Members of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) including Tesco, Asda, M & S, , Co-op, Somerfield, Sainsbury and Waitrose made a voluntary agreement to reduce the number of single-use carrier bags issued by 50% by May 2009 (compared to May 2006).

The results were published in the summer of 2009, and showed a 49% decrease of single-use plastic bags in Wales. The latest results of the voluntary agreement, published in August 2010, show that the 50% voluntary target in Wales has now been reached.

But, the Welsh Assembly Government said it was clear that progress is slowing and we are still using far too many bags in Wales. meaning the charge needed to be introduced.

PAFA

However, Barry Turner, chief executive of the Packaging and Films Association, said that his association did not support the move.

He told letsrecycle.com: We think the voluntary approach has been particularly successful in the UK and believe that is the right way of approaching things. The recent rise seen in the number of bags is only evidence of the fact that retailers have had more concerning things to address in the short term.