It's time to bin the bags

Enough is enough.

It’s time all British supermarkets charged for plastic bags. Yes, yes, the biggest waste lies in other areas of the supply chain. Blah blah blah.

But the case for the defence is, well, indefensible. As Northern Ireland this week joined Wales in imposing a plastic bag charge, consider the results since Wales started charging in October 2011. Plastic bag consumption has fallen by 70% to 96%! And M&S has used about 1.7 billion fewer of the things since it started asking shoppers to pay 5p for the privilege.

“The case for charging for plastic bags is compelling. Shoppers will quickly adjust after being left out of pocket”

Adam Leyland, Editor

Meanwhile, the various efforts of retailers to reduce plastic bag consumption without actually charging - such as promoting (and giving out free) bags for life, while hiding the ‘disposable’ ones - did have significant initial success. But as the graph on p5 shows, while plastic bag consumption plummeted sharply each year from 2006 to 2009, according to figures from Wrap, it crept up more than 5% in each of the next two years, as retailers took their eye off the ball.

When supermarkets first started hiding bags under the counters, shoppers were regularly chastised by checkout staff for not bringing their own bags - I certainly was.

Now the bags are creeping back on to the end of tills, and there is no longer the same embarrassment factor associated with not having the latest and trendiest bag for life.

And another thing - a bag for life is not a throwaway fashion item or seasonal line to be covered in Christmas baubles that render it useless for 50 weeks of the year.

Retailers continue to argue the sustainability debate has moved on - there are bigger fish to fry and they are making real progress in these areas - that is true and their work is to be commended - but as the evidence in Wales has shown, shoppers will quickly learn to reduce, reuse and recycle, after being left out of pocket. And the money raised can be put to good use, either to raise money for green charities, or to fund a joined up national recycling scheme. So come on guys and gals - it’s time to bin the bags!