This is not my... Focus
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Plastic Bags
Could this be a tax we actually want....
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The issue of whether a plastic bag tax is a good thing came up in an Angel or Devil challenge a few days ago.
To see all of the background from the challenge have a look at the link above or further down this page.
(For the version with links go to the A or D as I can't copy them to here. Apparently I haven't created a connection to the page and I can't create a connection as I made the page... very odd.)
Anyhow, if you are interesed, these are my conclusions.
To tax or not to tax? That is the question.
Despite my final conclusion that I would support a tax, I confess that it was a harder decision to come by than expected. The argument against taxing plastic bags is well made.
That which I found most compelling concerned the environment.
Critics of a tax argue that the amount of paper bags which will be used instead of plastics will lead to greater carbon emmissions and more waste in landfills.
However, it has been accepted that the increase in paper bag use will be negligible if these are taxed as well.
Well - for me that is easy.
If that is the case, as it has not proved to be in Ireland, then tax the paper bags too.
(For clarity I should point out that I am very anti all unnecessary packaging so I am biased on this point.)
Further though, critics state that projected environmental benefits of such a tax are not great. Taxing bags does not tackle the overall question of packaging waste and energy use, nor will it have a big impact on clearing up our streets.
I would counter that although such a tax is just the tip of the iceberg it is imperative that we start to make changes like this. Cumulatively 'green' initiatives will make a notable difference.
I would also back initiatives to reduce packaging or remove litter.
No one initiative is going to solve our energy use problems, or the fact our landfill sites are fit to bursting but you have to start somewhere. A tax that has proved to be beneficial in Ireland (a country where social practices are similar to ours) seems like the perfect place to start.
In fact, as a high profile initiative, a plastic bag tax could lead the way to other wider reaching initiatives. It could be used to raise awareness of other green issues.
As in Ireland, revenue from the tax could be used for recycling programmes.
I would therefore maintain that the long term benefits to the environment do make this tax desirable.
Also raised was the problem of job loss. This was the main reason the tax proposal in Scotland was stopped by Labour MP's.
It is difficult to comment on this as someone who has no immediate dependents. I might have no income but I have only myself to worry about.
This will not be the case for many of the 700 people who they felt would lose their jobs as a result of a Scottish plastic bag tax.
There has to be a solution though.
In the big scheme of things those employed in this part of the plastics industry do not constitute a huge number. We are a developed nation. We should be able to absorb and adapt to such a change.
Could some of the tax revenue be used initially to offset job losses, as well as the cost of setting up the programme?
On a wider level - will this not be the problem we come up against when we want to instigate any environmental change?
Oil is running out, we are burying our country in rubbish and polluting our air. Change has happened and will continue to happen. We must change too. There is no option.
Surely it is better to prepare and organise the way we deal with change so that the blows can be softened?
It is the same with so many things. Oooh I'm on a roll...
Hold on - if you don't fancy coming along for the ride skip the whole next bit...
Slight Diversion
'The Shackled Continent' noted that the huge amount of aid given to Africa in the 80's and 90's did nothing to bring the continent out of poverty.
The approach to aid has now changed. It is now directed at infrastructure and towards countries with sound fiscal policies.
However, previously short term fixes proved to be just that. No benefits were incurred by propping up systems that did not work.
It got me thinking though. We look at other countries and see what is going wrong but we don't like to look at ourselves too often.
The CAP may be beneficial to our farmers but why are we pouring money into subsidies which make our nation poorer. Yes there is the trade benefit to developing nations but surely changing a system that costs us loads of money is better for us too?
Though the immediate effects of change might be awful for some individuals, surely we can cushion these if we tackle them properly.
Two world bank economists were discussed in the Observer at the weekend for their claim that: "if politicians... throw open their agricultural markets to competition from overseas, world GDP would be boosted by up to $300 billion over the next decade."
That's a lot of cash.
Surely proper redistribution of the created wealth means it would be viable to compensate those who would initially lose out?
I was too young to remember the miners strike in the mid-80's but from all I know of it it was horrific. I do not mean that we should go anywhere near that kind of situation. I just feel that we should not blinker ourselves to the possibilities brought by change.
It must be possible to make harsh economic decisions in conjunction with considered and effective social policy.
Anyhow - just an opinion or a pondering even.
Will veer back to the... Plastic Bags!
You decide
You may agree with me, you may not.
You may feel that a middle road, whereby shops themselves are asked to encourage a more restrained use of plastic bags or given incentives to hand out biodegradable bags, is the way forward.
The choice is yours.
If you do want to see a tax, though, why not lend your support to the Campaign started by Andy at www.selfsufficientish.com
On the one hand he is hoping to encourage the use of reusable bags and on the other contact MP's to ask them to consider a tax.
Find out more specific details through this link.
I will certainly be using his example email as a base for writing to my MP. Although, I might add a question regarding the issue of a paper bag tax as well.
In the meantime I will eagerly await the free cotton bag that Camden council has just told me it is providing to each of its households. Looks like a start in the right direction.
Now if only there were some sort of incentive to get everyone to use theirs... a tax maybe...
Tuesday
Oh so so so too carried away with the excitement.
Four hours of looking through stuff on the tax in Ireland on plastic bags to see if this is a good thing, if we are intending to do the same here and trying to understand the general mysteries of Private Member's Bills.
Will have to let you know all of the details in the Wednesday bit though as I got so carried away with the research I haven't had chance to analysis it yet. Check out the Daily for details.
Wednesday
Oh the world of plastic bags is fascinating indeed. Here are some of the exciting links I have been finding:
Reusablebags.com has a running tally of the number of plastic bags used this year. By the time you read this it is probably going to be near 73,000,000,000 - it also details some benefits of a plastic bag tax.
Ireland plastic bag levy hailed as a great success - report by the BBC from mid-2002.
Other nations are also taking positive and practical steps to curb the unnecessary wastage of bags, many by simply banning plastic bags entirely.
In the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh bags are outlawed.
In South Africa, where bags are often recycled by the poorest for other purposes, there is a ban.
And I was even sent details showing that Somaliland, "a self-declared independent state in the north of one of the world's poorest and most anarchic war-zones" has banned plastic bags on environmental grounds.
Yet, here and in the US we are still having trouble diminishing our plastic bag usage.
In Scotland, Labour MSP's blocked a plastic bag tax.
In San Francisco city supervisors have done a U-turn on a 17c charge despite the fact that shoppers in the City alone use 50 million bags annually.
And, although Michael Meacher, the previous Minister for the Environment backed a ban in 2002, I have not yet found any thing to show what then happened to his suggestion.
In Scotland, Labour ministers rejected the idea as they felt a fee to be too much for the poorest in the country to bear. Perhaps there was a similar stumbling block for supporters in the UK?
There must be a way around that though.
I have some figures depicting how much would it cost different groups in real terms so I will have a look through them and get the info. up here too. (Might need another coffee before looking at anything mathematical though!)
Anyhow - regardless of what our Government is or isn't doing - as an interim measure there is no harm in simply trying to use less bags ourselves.
Thursday
Reasons plastic bag use in general is a bad thing:
They are bad for animals
Birds might get caught in them. Animals may eat them and die and creatures of the sea might think they are friendly jellyfish and then get an unpleasant surprise.
They contribute to rubbish on our streets
Though this is a wider issue of rubbish in general of which plastic bags are only a small part.
Finite oil reserves are used to make them
"Plastic bags are manufactured from ethylene, a by-product of oil and gas refining, and therefore a non-renewable and finite resource." - Scottish Parliamentary Review
Less Environmental Damage
Plastic bags are made from polyethylene. Once in the environment, it can take hundreds of years for them to breakdown. When they do decompose they release tiny elements of toxic waste into the earth and seas.
Reasons for a plastic bag tax:
1 - It has been proven to lead to drastic decreases in plastic bag use.
reuseablebags.org notes that the Irish Bag Tax was:
"Designed to rein in their rampant consumption of 1.2 billion plastic shopping bags per year, the tax resulted in a 90% drop in consumption, and approximately 1 billion fewer bags consumed annually."
2 - There has not been a massive increase in paper bag use seen in Ireland:
Although the levy does not apply to paper bags, these have not replaced plastic shopping bags in the supermarket sector.” - Nolan-ITU (2002)
Moreover estimates that paper bag use would rise as a result of a tax are vastly reduced if a tax is imposed on paper bags as well as plastic.
In addition, Friends of the Earth in Scotland note that:
"Anecdotal evidence from Ireland overwhelmingly suggests that consumers switched to reusable bags – exactly the kind of change in behaviour that the levy was aiming to stimulate."
3 - Some businesses would benefit. There would be increases in the sales of 'bags for life' and bin liners. Jobs would be created in relation to these sales increases and for in the administration of the levy.
4 - Money raised from the levy can be pumped back into recycling schemes. The UN Environment Programme explains that the Irish will be investing 35 million euros from the levy into new schemes.
Reasons against a tax are:
1 - "Plastic bags constitute 0.3% of the municipal waste stream in the UK (HM Treasury 2002). The AEAT report highlights that any reduction in the amount of plastic bags disposed of would have
very little effect on the overall waste disposal figures." - Scottish Parliamentary Review.
2 - More paper bags will be used which will mean that there is more waste in landfills. The Sunday Herald notes that when paper decomposes it produces more carbon than plastic.
3 - A levy would cost households on average £10 per year.
4 - Job loss - The Carrier Bag Consortium estimate that up to 700 jobs would have been lost in the plastics industry if the tax had been implemented in Scotland. (The website also raises other objections to the tax.)
5 - Set up costs - advertising the scheme and implementing the systems to administer it.
6 - Small businesses would lose revenue as they would need to put time consuming procedures in place to pay the tax to local authorities.
7 - There would be competitive disadvantages if this was not implemented across the UK.
Past Focus
