English stores bring in plastic bag charges

LONDON — From today, shoppers have to pay 5 pence (8 cents) for a plastic bag at large stores and supermarkets across England.

The evils of ordinary plastic shopping bags, which can take more than 100 years to biodegrade, are well documented — in 2002, Bangladesh became the first country in the world to ban polythene shopping bags after they were blamed for exacerbating floods by clogging drainage systems.

And in 2007, the picturesque town of Modbury in southwestern England became the first in Europe to go plastic-bag free after resident and wildlife camerawoman Rebecca Hosking filmed dying marine animals and birds tangled in plastic bags around Hawaii in 2006.

On returning home, she showed her film to the traders in Modbury, who said they would stop giving plastic bags to customers.

Their stance swiftly caught on here — reusable "bags for life" became de rigeur and small charges for plastic bags were introduced in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland between 2011 and 2014.

"The more bags we take from the shops, the more plastic makes its way into our environment, blighting our high streets, spoiling our enjoyment of the countryside, and damaging our wildlife and marine environments," said Britain's Environment Minister Rory Stewart.

Retailers with 250 or more employees will have to charge for the bags, while smaller businesses can do so if they wish.

Supermarket giant Tesco says it is aiming to be a zero carbon business by 2050, and has redesigned its single-use bags to be stronger so that fewer are needed.

"It's incredibly important we do our bit for the environment and we're really proud of the work we've done in this area, particularly in reducing waste," said Rebecca Shelley, its group communications director.

The British government said that major supermarkets in England gave out more than 7.6 billion plastic bags last year — the equivalent to 61,000 tonnes, and it expects the charge to raise up to $1.1 billion for good causes and save $91 million in litter cleaning costs over the next 10 years.

The government expects to see up to an 80% reduction in plastic bag use in supermarkets and 50% in high street stores as a result of the charge.

However, not everyone is a fan of the scheme.

Alice Ellison, of the British Retail Consortium, told the BBC that the charge sent out a "confusing, complex message" to customers, and that all shops in England should charge for all types of disposable bags, as was adopted in the rest of the United Kingdom.

Monday, #plasticbags was trending on Twitter. Here is a selection of what people had to say: