Perhaps the greatest merit in the proposal to impose a tax on plastic bags is that it has placed an issue of some importance on the public agenda. More than 1.2 billion plastic bags are used annually in the State. This represents one bag per day for every inhabitant; 14,000 tonnes of plastic in all. Too many bags, the Minister for the Environment Mr Dempsey says, end up as litter and threaten the ecosystem, natural habitats and wildlife. Anyone who knows the countryside and who has seen how unsightly this litter can be in fields and hedgerows will be inclined to agree.
The matter, however, is more complicated than that. There is no guarantee, for example, that a tax of up to 10p per bag would eliminate the problem or even alleviate it to an appreciable degree. It could, at current rates of usage, raise more than £100 million annually in revenue but there has been no indication of how this would be spent. While more than 80 per cent of plastic bags are used in shopping they would appear to be the only target for taxation. There is no suggestion that heavy-duty bags used for fertiliser or as silage-wrap, items shown to have caused serious flooding in the past, should be subject to the suggested levy. It is even possible that the proposals could run counter to directives of the European Commission.
In other EU countries the plastic bag has been ousted from many supermarkets by its paper equivalent. While having the distinct advantage of being biodegradable paper bags pose other problems for the environment, particularly when the amount of energy needed to produce paper products is taken into account. The proposed levy could also become a tax on food. No matter how the money raised the consumer will, most probably, have to pay as manufacturers or supermarkets pass the charges to the shoppers.
One effective method of coping with the problem lies in the hands of the supermarkets. Almost every shopper will have noticed that supermarket packers are inclined to use far more bags than are necessary for the amount of goods bought. Were supermarket owners and managers to train their packers to use bags more sparingly a marked improvement in the situation might be achieved. Despite their vast numbers, plastic bags are said to account for only 15 per cent of litter. It would appear that shoppers are more careful with plastic bags than other people are with cigarettes, chewing gum and the appalling burger boxes with which our streets are strewn.
A tax on bags is not likely to solve a litter problem which has disfigured the countryside and confirmed Dublin as Europe's dirtiest capital city. Better and more frequent cleaning of streets, the provision of more litter bins, imposing existing penalties and, above all, inculcating a measure of civic pride might produce better results.