Charge reduces Welsh carrier bag use by 71 per cent
The use of single-use carrier bags in Wales has dropped by 71 per cent since a charge was introduced in October 2011, says a new report commissioned by the Welsh Government.
The ‘Post Implementation Review of the Single Use Carrier Bag Charge in Wales’ also found that donations to good causes using the revenue from the five-pence charge have reached between £17 million and £22 million.
These findings come just a month before a similar charge is due to start in England on 5 October.
Unlike the charging schemes in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, however, the English charge will only apply to organisations with 250 employees or more and will not include biodegradable bags or ‘bags for life’.
Charge’s effect in Wales
The review sought to examine the charge’s impact on consumers, businesses and the environment. It states that its introduction has led to ‘a significant shift in consumer behaviour and important benefits to the environment’.
According to the report, the charge has resulted in a rise in the use of ‘bags for life’ as well as other reuseable bags. When these are taken into account, the overall reduction for all bags in Wales since October 2011 is 57 per cent, in addition to the reduction in single-use bags by 71 per cent.
The review asked 504 retailers that are currently obliged to charge for single-use bags for their views on the charge. Responses indicated that 87 per cent think that it had had either a positive or neutral impact on their business, with ‘many reporting that business costs had reduced as a result of the charge’.
Consumers were also reportedly happy with the charge. Of the 1,011 members of the public polled for the review, 74 per cent supported the charge, up from the 61 per cent that responded favourably prior to the charge’s introduction.
Though there is no statutory duty on retailers to reinvest the revenue from the charge into good causes, a voluntary agreement developed by the Welsh Government encourages it. The study found that 78 per cent of the retailers that charge for single-use bags donated all of their revenue, while a further nine per cent donated a proportion of it.
Charge ‘changing habits’ in Wales
Responding to the report’s publication, Wales’s Natural Resources Minister Carl Sargeant said: “Wales was the first country in the UK to introduce a single-use carrier bag charge in order to reduce consumption and the associated environmental impacts. We wanted the people of Wales to get into the habit of reusing their bags when shopping.
“I am pleased that almost four years on from the introduction of the charge in Wales, consumer habits appear to be changing which is having a positive knock-on effect on the environment as well as raising a significant amount of money for good causes.”
Read the ‘Post Implementation Review of the Single Use Carrier Bag Charge in Wales’ report.
