Price of single-use carrier bags for shoppers to double

The cost of a single-use carrier bag is to double to 10p across Scotland from April 1 in the latest bid to reduce plastic use.

MSPS will be asked to approve the price increase at Holyrood, with environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham saying: “It’s important that pricing is updated to ensure [it] continues to be a factor in making people think twice about using a single-use bag.”

The original cost of five pence was first introduced six years ago, when 800 million carrier bags per year were being issued to shoppers across Scotland – and resulted in an 80 per cent reduction in the number handed out within a year.

Ms Cunningham added: “Thanks to the people of Scotland, the introduction of the charge has been successful in reducing the amount of single-use carrier bags in circulation; it has also made us think about the small steps we can all take to help the environment.”

A statement added: “Due to the ongoing national lockdown, the Scottish Government is also planning to bring forward an exemption from charging for single-use carrier bags for certain deliveries and collections, as was done in spring 2020.”

Future environmental plans also include “banning the sale of plastic stemmed cotton buds, with further steps to ban a number of single-use items recently being consulted on”.

Keep Scotland Beautiful chief executive Barry Fisher added of the plastic bag charge: “It has significantly helped reduce the number of bags being given out by retailers, saving thousands of tonnes of plastic. There’s still an opportunity to challenge individual behaviours and improve consumer awareness, which the doubling of the charge will help do; [and] retailers’ donations of their customers’ bag charge money have supported us to combat climate change, tackle litter and protect and enhance the places we care about.”

North Lanarkshire’s environment convener, Glenboig councillor Michael Mcpake, told the Advertiser: “Reducing single-use plastic is a global priority and using your own bags when you’re shopping means you are helping the environment.

“If the evidence shows that increasing the cost of plastic bags will encourage more people to use their own shopping bags, then it’s to be welcomed as one of a range of measures to reduce overall waste.

“We are actively implementing a strategy to reduce and remove plastic packaging or find recyclable alternatives in our cafes, schools and staff restaurants as well as recycling as much plastic waste as possible.”

The council is working to remove single-use plastic packaging from its primary schools by December and from its secondaries by the following August as part of its environmental action plan, launched in November 2019.

A total of 25 schools – including Langloan, St Augustine’s, St Bartholomew’s, St Mary’s and St Patrick’s primaries in Coatbridge, Airdrie schools St Dominic’s and St Serf’s, and the joint campuses of St Edward’s and Tollbrae, Plains and St David’s, and Bargeddie and St Kevin’s – have been piloting the green measures since last year.

They include serving foods including sandwiches, soup, fruit pots, cheese and coleslaw on reusable plates and bowls instead of disposable containers, juice being poured from jugs into reusable tumblers and the introduction of new milk cartons with fully-recyclable paper straws.

North Lanarkshire’s plans also include working to remove single-use plastic from its cafes, staff restaurants and hospitality catering; with measures including replacing plastic cups, straws and coffee stirrers, substituing sauce sachets with dispensers and implementing eco-friendly packaging.