Plastic bag cost hike not enough, says environmental group

THE cost of a plastic bag will rise to 22 cents by the end of this month in an effort to reduce the increasing number of bags sold.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said retailers were being allowed a number of weeks to adjust their pricing structures in advance of the increase, which will become effective by the end of January.

He said there was “anecdotal evidence to suggest that much of the good work done in getting people to recycle their bags is being lost”.

The new 22c charge is the maximum increase the department can introduce under current legislation.

However, director of Friends of the Earth, Oisin Coghlan, yesterday reiterated his calls for a doubling of the plastic bag levy to 30c.

He said that consumers’ “shock factor” of having to pay for plastic bags had worn off and contributed to the notable increase in sales of plastic bags.

“It has taken so long for the department to introduce the increase that they should really now pause and introduce one large increase for the fifth anniversary of the plastic bag levy in March,” he said.

Friends of the Earth has consistently stated that the tax was designed to change consumer behaviour and not raise revenue. Yet, the amount of levies gathered by the Government is now in excess of €50 million.

Despite achieving the record low sales figure of 85 million bags after the introduction of the 15c levy in March 2002, some 115 million bags were sold in 2005.

According to figures from the Department of the Environment, €7million was collected in levies in 2002, increasing to €17million in 2005.

By May of 2006, the department had already collected almost 9m, giving rise to concerns that it could mark a record year for levies collected and plastic bags sold.

Prior to the introduction of the levy in March 2002, each consumer used an average of 328 bags per year.

This decreased to 21 per capita immediately after the levy was introduced.