Scotland launching consultation into ending free plastic carrier bags

Tomorrow (27 June) the Scottish Government is beginning a three-month consultation on plans to levy a minimum charge on plastic carrier bags. A ban on free plastic bags would aim to reduce their use, and the attendant CO2 emissions from their production, reduce the litter that bags cause when discarded and encourage people to consider the impact they have on the environment.

The consultation is part of a manifesto pledge by the SNP to ‘seek to phase out plastic bags in supermarkets’. Exact details will be confirmed after the public consultation, but the plan will likely emulate successful schemes in Ireland, Wales and many other countries across the world that have taken action to reduce the use of single-use plastic carrier bags. The public consultation will run until September, after which the results will be analysed and policies considered.

"The evidence from Wales is that a small charge is easy to implement and has a huge impact on shoppers’ behaviour, which can only be a good thing for litter in our towns and for our wildlife, seas and beaches”, commented Scottish Green MSP, Alison Johnstone. "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?"

Consultation questions will focus on three areas: whether the bag charge should apply to all retailers; whether any types of bag should be excluded, e.g. bio-degradable bags; and if a minimum levy of 5p is reasonable. There does appear to be a large public demand for action on plastic bags; an EU-wide survey found that 70 per cent of respondents favoured an outright ban.

Current plans are likely to levy a 5p charge on bags, collected by the retailers themselves. Retailers will be allowed to recover the cost of their bags, and encouraged to donate the remainder, estimated to amount to £5 million a year, to charitable causes of their choosing.

If the scheme is a success, the government can expect plastic bag use to drop by 60 to 80 per cent, as suggested by preliminary results coming from Wales. The most successful plastic bag charging scheme in the British Isles is in Ireland, which introduced a 15 cent (12p) levy in 2003 and saw carrier bag use drop by 94 per cent from 328 bags used per person per year to only 21.

However, there are potential downsides to putting levies on plastic carrier bags: some observers claimed that when Ireland introduced the charge people ended up buying more heavy-duty bin bags to use as bin-liners, collecting dog mess, and other day to day chores, to replace the bags they used to get for free. Moreover, if plastic bags are recycled and reused properly, they can outperform improperly used ‘bags for life’ in environmental terms. Lifecycle assessment of supermarket carrier bags by the Environment Agency found that because of the more substantive materials used, a plastic bag for life would have to be used four times, and a cotton bag 131 times to achieve a net saving in CO2 emissions. But if the ‘single-use’ plastic bags are reused even once a plastic bag for life has to be used more than nine times and a cotton one 327 times to save on CO2.

The ultimate aim of the Scotland’s potential ban, however, includes encouraging environmental behaviour change (meaning people would be using the bags correctly). Scottish Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead commented: “Carrier bags are a highly visible aspect of litter. 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 reused.”