Lancashire plastic bag firm goes into administration “following 5p bag charge”

A Lancashire-based manufacturer of plastic carrier bags has gone into administration, blaming the introduction of the 5p levy for its demise.

Nelson Packaging, which has produced carrier bags for over 30 years at is UK manufacturing facility, entered administration last week with the reported loss of 40 jobs.

According to the BBC, the company’s Managing Director, Michael Flynn, said the action was a consequence of "the English bag legislation and corresponding impact on customer and retailer demand" as well as “aggressive competition from overseas.”

The firm was sold to EDCAWI, which owns Cheshire-based packaging firm, Intelipac, in 2013.

The introduction of a 5p tax for single-use plastic carrier bags came into force in England in October 2015. According to retail giant, Tesco, since the introduction of the charge, “customers in England use 30 million fewer bags every week, a reduction of almost 80 percent.”