Plastic bags on beaches cut by half after 5p fee

UK: Marine Conservation Society says levy has led to significant drop

The number of plastic carrier bags found on UK beaches has dropped by almost half, according to conservationists.

The Marine Conservation Society said the introduction of a 5p levy on single use plastic bags in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland over the last five years was instrumental in the drop.

According to the charity’s annual Great British Beach Clean report, there were on average 11 plastic bags per 100 metres of coastline cleaned in 2015 but this year there was just under seven – a decrease of almost 40% and the lowest number in the last 10 years.

The charity began calling for action on single use carrier bags in shops back in 2008 and was instrumental in getting a levy introduced in Wales in 2011, Northern Ireland in 2013, Scotland in 2014 and England in October last year.

“In the last decade, our Great British Beach Clean volunteers have found an average of 10 single use carrier bags for every 100 metres of coastline cleaned,” said the charity’s beach watch manager Lauren Eyles.

“This year, for the first time since the charges were introduced, we’ve seen a significant drop in the number and that can only be as a result of the 5p charge which is now in place in all the home nations.

“It vindicates the charge, which we predicted would be good news for the marine environment. Thanks to our thousands of fantastic volunteers who collect beach litter data, we can now see the impact these charges have had.”

Beaches in England and Northern Ireland saw the biggest drop in the number of bags found during the September clean up – over half compared with 2015.

In Wales, where the charge has been in place for five years, the number – just under four bags for every 100 metres cleaned – is significantly lower than any other year since 2011. In Scotland, volunteers found, on average, one bag fewer over the same distance this year compared with last year.

The charity said there has been a drop of almost 4% in the amount of litter found on UK beaches between 2015 and 2016.

Beaches in Scotland saw a decrease of 18% in overall litter levels.

Analysis of the data collected by volunteers also showed a rise of over 4% in the quantity of drinks containers found on the UK’s beaches, including plastic bottles, bottle tops and aluminium cans.

Picture: PA. Anthony Donaldson has been appointed as the in-store ‘strongman’ at Morrisons in Anniesland, Glasgow, as the supermarket assigns dedicated staff to help customers with their heavy loads during the five days leading up to Black Friday.