Scotland to introduce bag levy in October 2014

Scotland will introduce a five pence bag levy in October 2014, Scottish Environment Minister Richard Lochhead announced today (28 June).

The new regulations, subject to approval from Scottish Parliament, will require all Scottish retailers to charge a minimum of five pence (p) per single-use bag in a bid to reduce the 750 million bags used in Scotland each year.

The charge will apply to single use bags of any material, not just plastic; and all retailers will be required to charge customers for using them, not just supermarkets. However, smaller businesses will be exempt from the requirement to report the numbers of bags sold and how much of the levy they have given to charity. Instead, these businesses will be expected to publish some form of public statement of this information on their premises, such as a poster.

Under the regulations, some forms of single-use bag will be exempt from the levy – mainly for health and safety and privacy – such as bags for prescriptions, certain fresh foods (including fruit and unpackaged meat or fish) and unpackaged blades.

The move follows a consultation that was held last year to gauge public opinion on the matter.

If approved by the Scottish Parliament, a single-use bag levy will be in place in all of the UK’s devolved governments. England has yet to introduce a similar levy, despite over half of the public supporting such a measure.

Speaking of the new regulations, Lochhead said: “Discarded carrier bags highlight our throwaway society. We use more carrier bags per head in Scotland than any other part of the UK and this is unsustainable.

“Carrier bags are a highly visible aspect of litter and we are taking decisive action to decrease their number. By reducing the amount being carelessly discarded we can cut litter and its impact on our environment and economy. A small charge should also encourage us all to stop and think about what we discard and what can be re-used.

Levy is ‘not a tax’

Responding to fears that this is a tax, Lochhead pointed out that money raised from the levy will not be going back to government. Instead, retailers are expected to donate net proceeds to ‘good causes’.

He said: “We have seen elsewhere that carrier bag charging has been effective in encouraging people to reuse bags. This charge is not a tax but will see retailers donating the proceeds to charity - this could be up to £5 million per year after retailers have covered their costs.

“Thousands of Scottish people already use bags for life and some retailers already charge. It is now time, however, for a national effort.”

Iain Gulland, Director of Zero Waste Scotland, has welcomed the regulations saying: “Zero Waste Scotland supports initiatives that tackle litter and help achieve a zero waste society, so we welcome the Scottish Government’s decision to implement a levy on single use bags.

“We can all reduce the impact of carrier bags by making sure that when we must take one, we re-use it over and over again as many times as possible and then recycle it at the end of its life.”

“Encouraging the reuse of carrier bags will complement wider action to tackle litter, which will be published later this summer.”

Though the regulations have not yet been laid in Parliament, the Scottish Government says they will be laid in ‘in time for businesses to start charging by October 2014’.

The news comes just weeks after Northern Ireland’s Environment Minister, Alex Attwood, proposed new legislation that will double the current levy on single-use bags (to ten pence) and extend the levy to some multiple-use bags too.

Read more about Scotland’s single-use bag levy.