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edie.com, 11.3.06
Plans to follow in the footsteps of Ireland by introducing a tax on plastic bags have been put on the backburner in Scotland after the MSP who proposed them withdrew his Bill.
Mike Pringle, Lib Dem MSP for Edinburgh South, had put forward a Plastic Bag Levy Bill which would see supermarkets and other retailers providing plastic bags charging a small fee for every carrier customers required, in an effort to encourage consumers to use their own bags.
The Bill had found considerable support among other MSPs, though manufacturers of the bags had, unsurprisingly, opposed the moves, saying it would harm the Scottish economy and cost jobs.
But now, despite the fact the Scottish Executive has not passed the Bill, Mr Pringle says he has accomplished what he set out to do and it is now down to the executive to take what steps it feels are required to tackle plastic waste north of the border. According to Mr. Pringle, "withdrawing this Bill now puts the ball firmly in the Scottish Executive's court. I want to see concrete proposals that integrate my Bill into an overall waste minimisation strategy.
Ross Finnie, Scottish Environment Minister, claimed a voluntary code asking retailers to sign up for reductions could be just as effective as legislation. "I would strongly urge retailers to sign up to the voluntary code and I'd expect to see progress shortly. If agreement cannot be reached, then legislation may have to be considered."
edie.com
icWales.co.uk, 11.27.06
The Keep Wales Tidy group has hit back at claims that banning plastic bags from Welsh supermarkets would have undesirable consequences. Recently the Carrier Bag Consortium, representing bag manufacturers, criticised Environment Minister Carwyn Jones for suggesting such a ban.
Keep Wales Tidy chief executive Tegryn Jones responded, "In the Republic of Ireland, where there is now a tax on plastic bags, there is no evidence there were job losses. The few jobs depending on the plastic bag industry in Wales that could conceivably be lost would be more than compensated for by other employment opportunities.
icWales.co.uk
Times Online, 11.11.06
A tax has cleared the Republic of Ireland’s streets and countryside of discarded plastic bags.
In spring 2002 plastic-bag litter was effectively killed off by a levy of 15 euro cents for every bag handed out. In five months, the use of plastic bags was slashed by more than 90 per cent.
The Irish environment ministry estimates that the “plastax” brings in €10 million (£6.7 million) a year, which is being spent on environmental projects.
timesline.co.uk
Recycle Now, 9.30.05
Tackling the UK’s waste is a national priority and a new pilot scheme is looking into ways of reducing waste associated with free carrier bags.
As the bags often appear light and flimsy, you might not think about their impact on the environment, but statistics for the UK show that each year:
* more than 10 billion carrier bags are produced;
* if laid end-to-end, these would stretch to the moon and back five times;
* 80% of shoppers put everything into free carrier bags at the supermarket; and
* 100,000 tonnes of plastic bags are thrown away – that’s the same weight as 70,000 cars!
http://www.recyclenow.com/at_the_shops/choose_to_reuse.html
The Guardian, 8.5.06
Tesco unveiled plans yesterday to offer shoppers a financial incentive to use fewer plastic carrier bags.
In the first such scheme, Britain's biggest supermarket group will encourage shoppers to re-use bags by offering one point for the Clubcard loyalty scheme (worth 1p) for every carrier bag they do not use. It is the latest in a series of recent moves by the big grocery chains as each tries to show it is greener than the other...
The number of carrier bags handed out to British shoppers - 17bn a year, or 280 a person - is fast becoming an emotive issue. Only one in every 200 bags is recycled and an estimated 100,000 tonnes of plastic bags (the same weight as 70,000 cars) are thrown away in the UK each year...
Tesco's initiative comes two months after Ikea began charging 5p a bag. The Swedish furniture group says plastic bag usage at British stores has since dropped by 95% - far more than it had expected. Its UK customers got through 32m carrier bags last year - in the year after starting to charge, the figure will be just 1.6m.
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1837747,00.html
Irish Examiner, 3.3.06
Friends of the Earth seeks doubling of plastic-bag tax
The Irish branch of Friends of the Earth has called on the Government to double the plastic-bag tax.
The group believes the initial effects of the four-year-old 15c levy is wearing off, with 113 million plastic bags sold last year, compared to a low of 85 million in 2003.
It now wants the tax doubled to 30c to discourage people from using plastic bags.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/story.asp?j=143512880&p=y43
Environmental Data Interactive Exchange, 3.2.06
The Irish authorities are confident of meeting the latest EU targets set for packaging waste and part of the credit is owed to the introduction of the national tax on plastic bags.
The Plastic Bags Levy, which charges consumers for every disposable bag they use on their shopping trips, has made many members of the public rethink their position on waste.
This culture change has made huge inroads into waste reduction that reach far beyond the bags themselves.
New targets for the recovery a recycling of packaging waste were announced on Monday, February 27.
"Packaging waste recycling is an Irish environmental success story", said Environment Minister Dick Roche.
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=11141
selfsufficientish.com, 9.30.05
One of my pet hates is the over use of carrier bags. In the UK Friends of the Earth state that the amount of plastic packaging waste from UK homes is about one million tonnes. With landfill sites getting fuller, then should we not be doing something? About 80% of our waste could be reused or recycled. Carrier bags only make up a small percentage of this waste, but every little helps.So why not 'carry a bag!'
http://www.selfsufficientish.com/Carrier%20Bags.htm
Mirror.co.uk, 9.29.05
WHEN carrier bags were introduced in the 1970s, we fell instantly in love.
Today, Britons get through a whopping ten billion of the things a year - more than 150 for every one of us. They are everywhere - cluttering the nation's attics, cupboards and kitchen drawers.
But the humble carrier now threatens our very existence.
Each one takes 1,000 years to decompose and, when it does, leaves toxins in the soil. Plastic bags are responsible for the death of 100,000 marine animals and a million birds a year.
Our landfill sites are stuffed with them and they make up 50 per cent of the rubbish found on our coastlines.
Don't be fooled by its innocuous appearance: carrier bags kill...
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16186748&method=full&sit
Scotsman.com - editorial, 9.16.05
LET'S face it we are essentially a nation of wasters. Britain has truly become a disposable society which keeps little, discarding much of what once would have been hoarded for future use. Such is the fate of one of our most common items - the plastic carrier bag.
In the UK alone supermarkets give away 17.5 billion of them a year, with the average shopper taking home around seven each week. Six out of ten shoppers in Edinburgh arrive at supermarkets and shops expecting to be given free bags to ferry the shopping home.
Once the groceries have been stacked away a few may be stuffed away in cupboards but practically none are taken back to the supermarket to carry home the following week's shopping. Most inevitably end up in the dustbin and ultimately find their way to a landfill site where such bags now account for one per cent of all buried rubbish taking 100 years to decompose...
http://news.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1961372005
letsrecycle.com, 9.15.05
A new retail campaign supported by the Waste and Resources Action Programme is to promote the re-use of carrier bags by shoppers.
The reusable bag campaign will be trialled in Bristol and Edinburgh for six weeks from September 19, and will involve supermarkets and high street chains including Tesco, ASDA, Somerfield, the Cooperative Group and Boots.
We are not really starting something new, but are trying to revive the habit of using shopping bags again
- Dr Richard Swannell,
WRAP Customers at participating stores will be encouraged to "Choose to Reuse" with durable bags for their shopping in an effort to curb new carrier bag take-up.
There will be extensive local activities in the two trial areas promoting the campaign message to customers as well as a targeted public relations programme with in-store materials promoting the reusable bags sold at checkouts...
http://www.letsrecycle.com/materials/paper/news.jsp?story=4869
Scotland, 8.31.05
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/pdfs/b43s2-intro
20six Blog, 8.16.05
Aberdeen considers reusable bags
Reusable cotton shopping bags are to be distributed free to shoppers on a trial basis to encourage people to reduce the number of plastic bags they use, under the the 'Fantastic it's not plastic!' initiative.
Cotton shopping bags will be handed out at the shopping precinct on North Deeside Road during the promotion and local children at Culter school are also being encouraged to participate in the initiative.
Amy Gray, Aberdeen City Council's Business Waste Minimisation Officer says, "Aberdeen City Council is encouraging residents to become more waste aware. Refusing plastic bags at checkouts is a simple step anyone can take to reduce the amount of waste they produce. Aberdeen City Council is also lobbying for the introduction of a tax on plastic bags in line with other forms of packaging."
The UK now produces and uses 20 times more plastic than it did 50 years ago.
Around 10 billion plastic bags are handed out by supermarkets and other retailers in the UK every year.
Scots alone take more than 18.5 million plastic bags home from shopping trips each week, according to research by the UK's largest home improvement retailer B&Q.
Every year Scotland uses approximately 1 billion plastic bags, this equates to 200 plastic bags for every man, woman and child in Scotland.
If national averages are applied to Aberdeen then local residents are sending some 1000 tonnes of plastic bags to landfill each year.
The average household is estimated to have 40 plastic bags stuffed in cupboards or drawers.
Ireland introduced a levy on plastic bags in March 2002 under the Waste Management Act 1996, reducing usage by 90%.
Plastic bags are a major cause of unsightly litter and they also harm wildlife.
The amount of petroleum used to make one plastic bag would drive a car about 115 metres.
Plastic bags that end up at sea are easily swallowed by marine life that mistake them for food. An estimated 100,000 whales, seals, turtles and other marine life die every year after swallowing plastic bags.
In many council areas, plastic bags are the single main contaminant of kerbside recycling.
In a report by Audit Scotland it is envisaged that waste is estimated to grow by 7% per annum, compared to a 3% predicted within the National Waste Strategy. The UK's appetite for free plastic bags shows no sign of diminishing despite many voluntary schemes such as bags for life, boxes or recycling of plastic bags.
http://www.20six.co.uk/norquest/archive/2005/06/16/153ctm1bekjjf.
Guardian Unlimited, 4.12.05
The Green party today unveiled a manifesto containing radical plans to overhaul taxation to fuel its social justice and sustainability agenda. The party's principal speaker, Keith Taylor, said the policies would deliver "real change", designed to safeguard the long-term future of the environment…
…The taxation plans announced at the party's manifesto launch in London today included replacing VAT with eco taxes such as aviation fuel tax and plastic bag tax…
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/election/story/0,15803,1457820,00.
Gulf Times, 4.10.05
A BRITISH company is bringing cutting-edge technology to Qatar to eradicate plastic pollution, a major headache for environmentalists worldwide…
…the UK firm Symphony Environmental Ltd, which has perfected a technology called d2w.
It is designed to cause flexible plastics to degrade “completely and harmlessly in as little as 60 days or as long as five to six years, depending on the requirements”…
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no
ic NorthWales - North Wales, UK, 3.24.05
A PLASTIC carrier bag tax would make beaches and the countryside cleaner, campaigners claimed last night…
…One of the worst beaches was found in South Wales, with nearly 2,500 items of rubbish in just 100 metres on a Bristol Channel beach.
Andrea Crump, MCS's litter projects co-ordinator, said a tax on plastic bags in Ireland reduced waste by 90%.
She added: "Plastic litter accounted for almost 60% of all litter in the 2004 Beachwatch survey, the highest levels ever recorded…
http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk/news/regionalnews/tm_objectid
CBBC newsround (audio), 3.12.05
Lots of supermarkets sell strong carrier bags so that you can use them over and over again.
This means that you won't have keep using disposable plastic bags which are bad for the environment…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4330000/newsid_4335800/4
Food Production Daily, 3.10.04
A new report has called for supermarkets to limit packaging waste, do more to promote recycling and cut down on pollution caused by long distance distribution. Billions of plastic bags are used up every year, and the average UK household now spends £470 a year on packaging – one-sixth of its total food budget.
Plastic bag usage came under fierce criticism. One unnamed retail chain distributed a whopping nine billion plastic bags last year...
http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/news-NG.asp?id=50517
Aberdeen City Council, 3.10.04
Aberdeen City Council today renewed its campaign asking the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to introduce taxation on plastic shopping bags.
So far Mr Brown has rejected the city council's campaign to introduce taxation which has received widespread support from throughout the UK...
http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/ACC_Data/news%20item/ppu_news_0403
icLiverpool, 3.5.04
A TAX on carrier bags to help reduce waste and encourage the re-use of plastics is being called for by a leading Liverpool councillor.
Cllr Paula Keaveney is pushing for Liverpool council to support a "vigorous campaign" to introduce a levy on plastic bags, similar to the 9p charged on each carrier in Ireland.
Money made by the tax would be ploughed back into environmental work. Cllr Keaveney, Liverpool's assistant cabinet member for environment, said: "This is not something the council can do on their own, so I'm asking that they take part in a national campaign.
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/cont
Reueters News Service, 3.5.04
LONDON - More than half of workers want Chancellor Gordon Brown to impose "sin" taxes on disposable nappies and plastic bags, according to a survey.
The poll by BDO Stoy Hayward on Thursday a fortnight ahead of Brown's annual budget found the public appear most concerned about products which pollute the environment and are prepared to accept "sin taxes" to curb their use...
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/24129/story.ht
scotsman.com, 2.9.04
A TAX on supermarket plastic bags planned by Edinburgh MSP Mike Pringle is gathering support across the UK.
The Liberal Democrat said councils across Britain were signalling that they backed his proposal to allow local authorities to impose an environmental levy on disposable bags.
Shoppers would have to pay the tax - expected to be around 10p - at the checkout and the money raised would go to promote recycling.
http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=158582004
Ananova, 4.28.03
Researchers have found the majority of British shoppers are in favour of paying for plastic bags. The idea is that less bags would be sold leading to fewer polluting the environment. Almost 63% support the idea of paying 10p for their carrier bags compared with just 27% who are opposed.
Sorry! Article no longer available.
BBC, 12.18.02
Shoppers in Durham Country, UK could become the first customers in the UK to pay a tax on plastic disposable bags to help clean up the environment. Durham County Council is seriously considering a tax on plastic bags. They are inspired by the success of a similar measure in Ireland. Each year, approximately 65 million plastic bags are thrown away in Durham County, with a population of about 400,000.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2584961.stm
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