Green groups urge Government to do more to reduce plastic waste

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS have urged the Government to do more to reduce plastic waste after it was announced that the fee for plastic carrier bags is set to double from 5p to 10p from April next year.

Greenpeace said the move was a “small step in the right direction” while Friends of the Earth said plastic bags are only a small part of the larger plastic pollution problem.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ( Defra) said that small retailers – defined as those employing 250 people or fewer – will no longer be exempt from the levy.

The department said this weekend that following a public consultation last year, in which the “vast majority” of respondents welcomed the changes, the minimum charge for single use carrier bags will increase from 5p to 10p.

The department said it has committed to implementing both changes from April 2021.

The 5p levy on plastic bags was introduced in England in 2015, with the most recent figures showing that the number of singleuse bags distributed by large supermarkets has fallen more than 95 per cent.

The average person in England now buys just four single- use bags a year, compared to around 140 in 2014. Jamie Peters, from Friends of the Earth, said: “We’ve seen the big and positive change the bag charge has already made but plastic bags are a small part of the larger, plastic pollution problem.

“To make a lasting difference what’s needed is legally binding plastic reduction targets in the

Environment Bill that is currently making its way through Parliament.”

Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “The UK is already a world- leader in this global effort, and our carrier bag charge has been hugely successful in taking billions of harmful plastic bags out of circulation.”