Confirmation of “discriminatory” plastic bag charge slammed by BPF

The Director-General Designate of the British Plastics Federation has condemned today’s confirmation of a plastic bag tax in England in 2015, describing the levy as “discriminatory” and “anti-competitive.”

Speaking after the announcement, made by the Queen during her speech at the official state opening of Parliament, Philip Law said the introduction would “distort markets.”

“A populist measure, it ignores the immense re-usability of plastic bags and is inconsistent with the Government's own life cycle assessment of bags which has been conveniently put in a drawer and forgotten about,” Law said. “Plastic bags represent a mere pin prick in the overall mass of waste.”

From Autumn 2015 single-use carrier bags in England will be subject to a 5p levy, with small businesses with fewer than 250 employees exempt. It is expected that the money raised by the charging scheme in England will go to environmental charities.

Joanthan Short, Founder and Deputy Chairman of ECO Plastics, a UK’s re-processor of post consumer recyclable plastic, said that revenue from the charge should be invested in a public awareness campaign to “increase household recycling across the UK for the economic and environmental benefit of local communities.”

“Research shows that people recycle more when they understand what can be recycled, where it goes, what it becomes and how it benefits the local community. A crystal clear communications campaign to get this information to every household is essential if we are to drive up recycling rates and meet our national recycling targets. ECO Plastics urges the revenue to be invested in projects like RECOUP’s Plastics Please campaign, set to launch later this year, and get Britain recycling more.”

The announcement follows the decision by the Scottish Parliament last week (28 May) to also introduce the 5p bag charge, which will come into force on October 20 this year.

The plastics industry has vocalised its opposition to the charge on numerous occasions, stating that plastic carrier bags must not be made the “scapegoat” for the UK’s litter problem.