FRONT PAGE THAT CHANGED YOUR WORLD
Before the Mail’s campaign triumph, each of us used 140 plastic bags a year. Now it’s 19
OUR addiction to plastic bags has been broken thanks to the 5p levy, dramatic figures revealed yesterday.
Introduced nationwide in 2015, the charge has led to an 86 per cent fall in usage.
The number issued by supermarkets annually has fallen from 7.5billion to one billion in four years. This equals 19 per shopper, compared with 140 in 2014. The remarkable decline is a direct legacy of the Daily Mail’s Banish the Bags campaign, which was launched more than a decade ago and led to the levy.
Michael Gove paid tribute last night to this newspaper’s pioneering efforts.
‘The Daily Mail’s tireless campaigning on plastic bags was crucial to the success
of our charge in driving down plastic use,’ said the Environment Secretary. ‘These figures show the huge scale of this success and the collective impact we can make to help the environment by making simple changes to our daily routines.
‘It is only by working together we will reverse the rising tide of plastic waste finding its way into our rivers, seas and oceans and the catastrophic impact this is having on our marine environment.’
Over the past year the number of bags issued has fallen by 300million to just over one billion, according to figures released yesterday by the Department for the Environment. Ministers are now consulting on extending the charge to smaller shops, which gave away more than 700million throwaway bags last year.
The Mail’s campaign was resisted by the Treasury for years, with ministers and officials claiming it would be unpopular with shoppers and retailers.
But the then chancellor George Osborne was eventually forced to back down in 2015 amid mounting public anger at the damage being caused to the world’s oceans.
The 5p charge had been introduced in Scotland the previous year.
The Mail has also campaigned successfully for a ban on plastic microbeads blamed for damaging our oceans, and is now pushing for wider action against all throwaway plastic. In January, Theresa May unveiled a 25-year plan to eliminate ‘avoidable’ plastic, including bottles, cups and almost all plastic packaging.
Mr Gove is considering a ban on plastic straws and the introduction of a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles.
The Scottish Government is committed to implementing a bottles scheme, which is expected to be in place within the next two years.
But the success of the plastic bag initiative will fuel calls for swifter action against a problem now seen as a global menace. A recent study by the Centre for Science, Fisheries and Aquaculture Sci- ence found a 50 per cent fall in the number of plastic bags littering the UK’s waters since the charge was introduced.
Thomas Maes, marine litter scientist at Cefas, said: ‘Every plastic bag not purchased is one that will not end up in our sea, damaging habitats or harming marine life.
‘It is encouraging to see the efforts to reduce plastic bag usage by all of society. These figures show that by working together, we can tackle the marine litter problem.’
Environmental campaigners last night welcomed the dramatic impact of the 5p charge – and urged ministers to accelerate moves to deal with the wider scourge of throwaway plastic.
Mary Creagh, chairman of the Commons environmental audit committee, said: ‘The public has enthusiastically embraced the plastic bag charge since it was introduced in 2015 which is good news for the environment and our economy.
‘We need to encourage behaviour change for other single use plastics such as plastic bottles and coffee cups to change habits and reduce litter.
‘We could also look at introducing a takeback scheme to cut the two billion bags a year we still use even further.’
Will McCallum, head of oceans at Greenpeace UK, said: ‘The success of the plastic bag charge shows that a smart and wellaimed government intervention can change behaviour and greatly reduce plastic waste. But we need to go further, faster to stem the tide of throwaway plastic entering our oceans.
‘UK supermarkets now need to reduce the overall volume of plastic packaging they are putting into circulation, and eliminate problem plastics like styrofoam, PVC and black plastic trays completely.’
Rosie Cotgreave, plastic-free campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: ‘A 5p charge may not have sounded like much, but the plummeting number of single-use plastic bags demonstrates the difference that can be made by effective legislation, which is starting to make reusable shopping bags the new norm.
‘Great as it is to see that so many fewer plastic bags are entering our environment, there is still a long list of other plastic nasties that are being used for moments before hanging around for centuries to come.
‘Companies and governments must do more. It’s time legislation was extended to cover all other unnecessary single-use plastics, from straws to coffee cups.’
Tanya Steele, chief executive at the environmental group WWF said: ‘The plastic bag campaign, championed by the Daily Mail, has helped to eradicate the use of millions of plastic bags that could have ended up in the oceans.
‘This shows the effect that we can all have in protecting our world. There’s still a long way to go to stop the torrent of plastic that’s suffocating the oceans and killing precious marine wildlife.
‘We need to ban all unnecessary single-use plastic entirely by 2025 otherwise we risk our oceans containing more plastic than fish by 2050.’