should we have to pay/have a tax for carrier bags?

i was thinking last night about carrier bags after one was blown across the street & got stuck under my car while i was driving. i pulled over & removed offending item but if i hadnt it could have caused dammage & me spending more money on my car than all ready need doing.

lo & behold i switch on the radio this morning to hear on the news something about carrier bags & stores giving incentives for shoppers to reuse them.

isnt it about time we started charging for carrier bags? the ROI have had a 9p tax on carrier bags since march 2002 & within 3 months consumption of plastic carrier bags had decreased by around 90% & within 5 months the levy raised €3.5million for environment initatives. many in ROI have hailed it a sucess.

its ok shops saying they will give incentives to people who reuse their carrier bags but i dont think this is going to work too well. i shop at tescos for non fresh items like tined produce, frozen produce & cat food. they were offering 1 green point on my clubcard for reusing carrier bags, they have just changed that to trebble green points because its obviously not an incentive enough for people to take their carrier bags with them to the supermarket.

i must admit i never remember to take my carrier bags back to the supermarket when i go. i have a cupboard full & i lieterally mean a big cupboard full of carrier bags under my stairs that i keep meaning to take & put in the tescos carrier recycling box. as soon as i walk through the doors i kick myself for not remembering them.

now if i had to pay for my carrier bags i would certainly make sure i take some with me or buy a few bags for life. i dont think many people like parting with their money for stupid thing like carrier bags which they most likely like me have in abundance at home so would more than likey remember to take some to the supermarket with them.

carrier bags are a nucence environmentally, you see them every where & they look a disgrace, when its windy they get caught in trees & they can be stuck up there for years looking awfull.

what do you think, should we have a tax on carrier bags?

 

I suppose if carrier bags are taxed, then the proceeds can go towards making all carriers biodegradable.

 

Another alternative I can think of is for every place to do what Virgin is now doing. They have environmentally friendly bags made from recycled paper and card.

 

i always take rucksacks to the supermarket and any other carriers i acquire, i use as bin bags...i dont believe in plastic bag wasteage....in germany/austria you just dont get given them....now theres a way to encourage people using rucksack bags

 

I think it's a brilliant idea ... target destructive / selfish / wasteful behaviour with taxation in order to discourage it, and use the revenue raised as part of the solution. This needs to be done across the board with environmental issues.

...I knew I liked the Irish

 

Yeah mate, I do that too

Trouble is in this country, if you take a rucksack..they think you're going to steal stuff!

 

I could cope with that. As it is, I reuse mine, and in some European countries, they charge for them, to discourage people buying more than they need.

The worst thing is the home delivery services of most supermarkets; I'm sure many of you have also seen this. The delivery is bagged into categories (packed by several different people, on different sections), meaning that some bags contain just one or two items.

 

i like taking my own bags to the grocery. when i get too much stuff for my bag, i get the market bags and they have ENDLESS uses around the house.

 

Damn straight they should be charged for. Should be £5 a bag THATD stop people forgetting their old bags.

 

I voted yes, but im generally funny about flat taxes...

 

How about a means-tested, income-related tax on carrier bags so that the poor get their bags for free but the rich have to pay several thousand pounds?

 

sounds good

 

im living in france at the moment and over here people seem to bring baskets to carry their shopping home in, or some other form of bag. you dont really find free plastic bags at the till like you do in the uk, but you can buy re-usable ones for about 10p, which i think would be a good idea to have in england.

 

I do not think carrier bags should be taxed - yeah they are a problem but they have gotten thinner and major stores are looking at ways to make them all bio-degradable. Many large stores already have them AND HAVE HAD THEM FOR A WHILE [The co-op for e.g http://www.co-op.co.uk/foodretail/index.php?pageid_grp=114].

What about the hundreds of thousands nay millions that do not come from supermarkets.

What about the millions upon millions of nappys that get thrown away ? - i do not see so much protest about selfish mummys throwing away millions of plastic nappys - every single week.

So no i do not think carrier bags should be taxed - they are the patsys for a wider and larger problem - one not solved with taxing people.

If they are - then surely all plastic disposable items should have a ''green tax'' on them - how likely is that ?.