Plastic bags to cost 5p – Channel Island Breakthrough
In what could only be described as an astonishing piece of inter-island co-operation, the major food shops in guernsey and Jerseyhave got together and agreed to introduce a 5p charge for plastic carrier bags from May this year.
This is not a money making scheme as the proceeds will all be donated to local charities, but a genuine breakthrough in the fight against the 10 million plastic bags used on these 2 islands every year.
Somewhat predictably there has been a little bit of whining, but you will get that with any change however positive. For these islands however, the environmental benefits will prove significant, as they both have limits to landfill capacity, and being surrounded by sea, this will hopefully make an immediate cut in the number of bags that end up blown into the sea, causing untold damage to marine wildlife.
It will be an interesting period to see exactly what impact this has, as local campaigns were already starting to cut the use of plastic bags. The Channel Islands are by no means first to tackle this problem, but a voluntary charge on the bags is an innovative step, and shows how perhaps it could be repeated throughout the UK, without the need for legislation. Perhaps what we are seeing is the start of a community led movement to have needs addressed by community action rather than government.
Tags: energy, environment, members