Despite all the stories about the detrimental effects of carrier bags and voluntary incentive to reduce their use, the number of bags being given out by shops is still rising. At last the situation may change. The Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee has published a report on Government plans for a 5 pence charge on plastic carrier bags in England.

Prospective MP for Taunton Deane, Rebecca Pow, well known locally for her personal crusade against carrier bags welcomes the plan:

"This is good news indeed.   The issue of our ‘carrier bag’ mad country has been something of a bug bear of mine for years.  As many local shop keepers know, I almost always arrive with my Somerset wicker basket (27 years old) or some old carrier bags when I go shopping. Year-on-year the number of plastic bags being given out by shops has been rising. A staggering 8.1 billion thin-guage carrier bags were used by supermarket customers in 2012 which is the latest data available.  They blight our towns and countryside, take hundreds of years to degrade, and can kill animals. So if we could cut down on their use it would be really constructive."

The idea is to introduce a small charge to encourage reuse. But it’s also important that there are protections for small businesses and incentives to use more environmentally friendly bags. Paper bags, which will be exempt, make up only a small proportion of carrier bags and break down naturally. In the States brown paper bags are the norm in almost all shops.  Biodegradable bags will only be exempt if they are genuinely biodegradable.

The actual weight of carrier bags thrown away amounts to over 70,000 tonnes a year which is virtually all going into landfill. By swapping to biodegradable bags and re-using as many conventional bags as possible this could reduce waste and the subsequent destruction of our countryside where the waste is disposed.  It is essential that small business, so important in job creation, are not penalised but checks are in place to ensure this does not happen.