Plastic bag price plan
A 5p charge could cut litter and help
charities
Scottish shoppers may soon have to pay at least five pence for a
plastic bag in a new plan to cut litter and protect the
environment.
The charge could cut plastic bag use by up to 80% while raising
£5 million for charity.
The government has started asking Scots what they think of this
idea. In three months' time, leaders will look at all the responses
they have had and decide whether to go ahead with the plan.
A similar charge has already been introduced in Wales and the
Republic of Ireland, where the amount of bags being used has
dropped dramatically. Shoppers in Northern Ireland will also have
to start paying for their bags next year.
Alison Johnstone, who represents the Green party, said the
charge "can only be a good thing for litter in our towns and for
our wildlife, seas and beaches."
The charge, of up to five pence, would go to charity.
Some people argue against making people pay for plastic bags.
They say that it rains so much in Scotland that no other kinds of
bags will be any use, and that it's not fair to make shoppers pay
another expense when they have already been hit by high food and
fuel prices.
Already many stores, including Marks and Spencer, Halfords and
Lidl, charge between 2p and 5p per bag.
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Plastic bag price plan
Has there ever been any such thing as a free plastic
bag?
The news that the Scottish government is this week beginning a
consultation into making supermarkets charge a minimum of 5p for
each plastic carrier bag shoppers use is a very cheering step.
If adopted it won't solve all our litter problems, but it's a
strong statement of intent in the battle to reduce the plastic tide
that washes over our verges, gardens and parks each day.
Since a similar project in the Republic of Ireland saw
plastic-bag litter drop by 95%, and 90% of shoppers start to use
long-life carriers, the idea augurs well for our environment, and
our consciences. So too for charities, who'll be the beneficiaries
of all those 5ps.
Inevitably, though, there are grumbles. Sceptics challenge the
idea that consumers should be charged for bags, and ask why, if
they absolutely must pay, they cost so much when they're so cheap
to produce?
Green MSP Alison Johnstone has a good answer: "I ask those who
oppose this policy to question whether there is such a thing as a
free plastic bag. And who picks up the bill for littered cities and
polluted seas?"
Of course it's annoying having to fork out for a bag when we've
been too forgetful, lazy or heedless to take along our own. And for
those on low incomes, this might feel like an additional burden, a
tax they do not deserve.
But the problem of plastic waste is so serious and so widespread
that tough measures are required. Not only is plastic an unsightly
blight on our landscape, but it is a pollutant, poisoning rivers,
lochs and seas. For wildlife, it is dangerous and often deadly,
from the birds and animals that choke on it, to the toxic waste
absorbed by creatures that then become part of our food chain.
In the face of this ever-growing threat, what's required is
nothing less than a cultural volte-face. After a century of living
as if we own the planet, we need to reverse our addiction to the
quick and easy disposable life, and embrace the second-hand and
hand-knitted, the shabby, crinkled and old.
Plastic lovers could be convinced to change their ways by the
Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This horrifying phenomenon is a
swirling island of debris, roughly twice the size of Hawaii, found
in the north Pacific Ocean. It is composed of plastic discharged
into the sea from every part of the world. One of the worst
culprits, apparently, are cruise liners, which dump around eight
tons of solid waste every week, much of which eventually finds its
way into this dead ocean mass.
A photo of a dead albatross found there, whose stomach was full
of bottle lids, has been enough to make many shoppers start
rethinking their plastic habits.
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