Northern Ireland has introduced a new levy, which comes into force today, which will charge shoppers at least five pence if they wish to have their shopping in a carrier bag. The new law will allow retailers to charge what they like for a carrier bag, but many will stick to the minimum five price.
The proceeds of the carrier bag tax in NI will not be going to the retailers anyway as it will be sent to the Department of the Environment. The Environment body is hoping for an 80 per cent decline in carrier bag use as people are encouraged to use bags for life and reuse them.
However, it is not just carrier bags which are affected. Paper bags and those made from natural starch and plant materials will also be affected. Basically if you want your shopping in an easy to carry bag you will have to pay for the privilege or bring your own.
Five pence may not sound a lot, but if you continually forget your own bags when you do the weekly shop and use around six bags each time, over 12 weeks it will cost you £3.60 which could have been used to buy extra bread and milk, for example.
Speaking of the tax introduction, Aodhán Connolly from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said: “Our biggest concern is that maybe there’s going to be some confusion or even some conflict at the tills. There is still the possibility of frontline staff in shops, small and large, facing conflict and confusion from customers who haven’t been well enough informed.
“Although there’s been a lot of communication about this there seems to be a few consumers out there not quite ready for it yet. What we’re really talking about here is a culture change and for that to happen it’s going to take quite a while to embed, all we’re asking for is a bit of patience.”
Do you think the rest of the UK should follow in Northern Ireland’s footsteps and introduce a compulsory carrier bag tax to help the environment, or do you think it’s up to the retailers to charge if they want to?
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