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From the Irish perspective [1], when the bag tax was introduced in 2002: it was promoted as an anti-litter measure. By that metric, it was successful: plastic b
by barrkel 10y ago
From the Irish perspective [1], when the bag tax was introduced in 2002: it was promoted as an anti-litter measure. By that metric, it was successful: plastic bags went from 5% of litter to less than 1%.
This paper talks about the Irish experience but not from an anti-litter perspective, rather looking at how total plastic bag usage shifted. And it's definitely true with a bag tax in place, you need buy more bags, because they don't accumulate through grocery purchases. But that wasn't what the tax was for.
And of course it raises revenue in a way that is easy to avoid if you're motivated, so it is naturally progressive.
[1] http://www.marlisco.eu/The_plastic_bag_levy.en.html?articles=the-plastic-bag-levy-ireland http://www.marlisco.eu/The_plastic_bag_levy.en.html?articles...
- internaut 10y agoI veer in the direction of libertarianism but I can't refute the effectiveness of that tax. It works. In place of plastic bags the supermarkets put their good used boxes at the head of the store and I can handily truck my shopping away in one of them. That then winds up at the recycling center later on, and in the worse case scenario of it being chucked outdoors by someone cardboard is biodegradable. It is true that buying a 'bag4life' would emit more CO2 and extrude more plastic net but that wasn't the real issue since those effects are marginal. The amount of litter did reduce. Now I would like to see us implement the German approach to bottles. They pay people money to collect them, I think it is 25c per bottle, and this has been very effective at keeping them off the streets as well as putting some money into the hands of those who could do with a bit of cash. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElYT8SMl-qI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElYT8SMl-qI I reckon on this being cheaper than hiring more street cleaners and cleaner machines so I view it as using a market mechanism.