Publisher description
Ministers have made their planned carrier bags charge unnecessarily complicated. Carrier bags litter our streets and harm wildlife, and the Government is right to want to reduce their use. But Defra seems to have made decisions about the design of this scheme that were based more on wishful thinking than hard evidence. Biodegradable bags are not as green as they first sound. The report also concludes that small retailers should be included in the scheme, but that those with fewer than 10 employees should have reduced reporting requirements, as in Wales. Paper bags can have a greater emissions impact than plastic bags. Exempting paper bags from the charge would weaken the message to re-use bags and risks reducing the environmental benefits and reduction in bag use. Recyclers were also concerned that increasing the use of biodegradable plastics would threaten the viability of the UK recycling industry by contaminating waste streams and recycled products. Ultimately exemptions for small retailers and paper and biodegradable bags make it confusing for consumers, potentially harmful for the recycling industry, and less effective than the Welsh scheme, where bag use has been reduced by over 75% with a straightforward 5p charge on all disposable carrier bags
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Plastic bags
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