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The UK recently required a 5p charge for plastic bags. As far as I'm aware this has seen an excellent reduction in usage (even that tiny incentive is enough to

The UK recently required a 5p charge for plastic bags. As far as I'm aware this has seen an excellent reduction in usage (even that tiny incentive is enough to make customers grab a bag from home instead of being lazy) and hasn't induced a switch to paper bags.

martinald 6y ago
I'm not so sure it's been any good. What's actually happened is supermarkets have replaced the thin plastic bags with far thicker plastic bags. While sales of plastic bags has went down, considering the ones that are sold are vastly thicker, I'm not really sure if there's been a net decrease in plastic use by weight.
- SifJar 6y ago
  This seems like a positive outcome to me - thicker plastic bags are more durable, can be reused for longer etc., so while there may still be the same amount of plastic "being used", more of it is presumably plastic that has been used before, and so less ending up in landfill?
  - johnzim 6y ago
    The big issue has been with the labelling for these thicker bags. The marketing term has been "Bag for Life" - but the goal of that term was that this bag could be replaced for free at the supermarket so that they could be recycled properly. In reality, very few people understood the setup and people have instead been treating them like the usual disposable plastic bags that just happen to cost a bit extra.
throwaway2245 6y ago
But: People would generally re-use the so-called "single use" thin, free plastic bags as bin liners and are now instead getting much thicker plastic bags and buying additional (also thicker) bin liners which are certainly single-use. Is it a net win? I'm not convinced. It's definitely great PR, for everyone involved. Disclaimer: I used to work for an environmental political party which very much supports this plastic bag tax.
- SifJar 6y ago
  Anecdotally - I've mostly stopped using plastic bin liners in the smaller bins where I could previously have reused carrier bags from shops. Rubbish goes in the bin directly & that gets tipped into wheelie bin periodically. Slightly limits what I put in these smaller bins (essentially, dry stuff only - anything wet goes in larger bin that always required a purchased bin liner anyway), but otherwise impact is minimal.
  - throwaway2245 6y ago
    Dry waste doesn't get a bin liner for me either, but being on this thread implies you are unusually engaged with the issue. There are definitely negative externalities (whether that's paper bags, or bin liners, or food spoilage, etc!) that are entirely ignored when people in general talk about the benefits of the plastic bag tax. We don't know whether there has been any net benefit because that has not been properly studied. As an example, the UK government has tied the plastic bag tax to charity donations (but supermarkets were promoting charitable donations before any bag tax...?) and accepts self-reporting of sales by supermarkets (not amount of plastic consumed? and "bags for life" are not reportable!!), which makes it complete non-sense https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carrier-bag-charge-summary-of-data-in-england/single-use-plastic-carrier-bags-charge-data-in-england-for-2018-to-2019 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carrier-bag-charg...

martinald 6y ago

I'm not so sure it's been any good. What's actually happened is supermarkets have replaced the thin plastic bags with far thicker plastic bags. While sales of plastic bags has went down, considering the ones that are sold are vastly thicker, I'm not really sure if there's been a net decrease in plastic use by weight.

SifJar 6y ago
This seems like a positive outcome to me - thicker plastic bags are more durable, can be reused for longer etc., so while there may still be the same amount of plastic "being used", more of it is presumably plastic that has been used before, and so less ending up in landfill?
- johnzim 6y ago
  The big issue has been with the labelling for these thicker bags. The marketing term has been "Bag for Life" - but the goal of that term was that this bag could be replaced for free at the supermarket so that they could be recycled properly. In reality, very few people understood the setup and people have instead been treating them like the usual disposable plastic bags that just happen to cost a bit extra.

throwaway2245 6y ago

But: People would generally re-use the so-called "single use" thin, free plastic bags as bin liners and are now instead getting much thicker plastic bags and buying additional (also thicker) bin liners which are certainly single-use. Is it a net win? I'm not convinced. It's definitely great PR, for everyone involved. Disclaimer: I used to work for an environmental political party which very much supports this plastic bag tax.

SifJar 6y ago
Anecdotally - I've mostly stopped using plastic bin liners in the smaller bins where I could previously have reused carrier bags from shops. Rubbish goes in the bin directly & that gets tipped into wheelie bin periodically. Slightly limits what I put in these smaller bins (essentially, dry stuff only - anything wet goes in larger bin that always required a purchased bin liner anyway), but otherwise impact is minimal.
- throwaway2245 6y ago
  Dry waste doesn't get a bin liner for me either, but being on this thread implies you are unusually engaged with the issue. There are definitely negative externalities (whether that's paper bags, or bin liners, or food spoilage, etc!) that are entirely ignored when people in general talk about the benefits of the plastic bag tax. We don't know whether there has been any net benefit because that has not been properly studied. As an example, the UK government has tied the plastic bag tax to charity donations (but supermarkets were promoting charitable donations before any bag tax...?) and accepts self-reporting of sales by supermarkets (not amount of plastic consumed? and "bags for life" are not reportable!!), which makes it complete non-sense https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carrier-bag-charge-summary-of-data-in-england/single-use-plastic-carrier-bags-charge-data-in-england-for-2018-to-2019 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carrier-bag-charg...