The UK Carrier Bag Consortium (CBC), representing producers and suppliers of lightweight plastic carrier bags, has claimed “a major victory” after news that MSP Mike Pringle has withdrawn his plastic bag tax bill just six days ahead of the planned debate in the Scottish Parliament.
“This is excellent news which will have global impacts,” says Barry Turner, chairman of CBC. “It proves two things: firstly that there has never been any viable justification for taxing plastic bags in the name of the environment and, secondly, that cynical political moves that suggest our industry is not environmentally responsible will be vigorously exposed.”
CBC, the lobbying group of the Packaging and Industrial Films Association, (PIFA) has fought for two years to overturn attempts to introduce a 10p tax on every plastic carrier bag used by retail customers in Scotland. Earlier it spent two years fighting similar moves to gain support for a plastic bag tax in Westminster.
“We have systematically dismantled every argument by using facts over fiction,” says Turner. “Plastic carrier bags represent around 0.3% of landfill and a similar percentage of litter found on the streets. When a similar tax was introduced in Ireland it did not achieve any net environmental benefits as consumers switched to more environmentally damaging alternatives that consumed more resource and required more transport. Every expert report has shown our case is solid and that plastic bags really are the best environmental option provided we can encourage more people to re-use and recycle them.”
Although welcoming the Scottish tax's defeat, CBC warns that “the problem of ill-conceived and punitive measures against the plastic carrier have not gone away”. “We are actively supporting a voluntary code of reduction, re-use and recycling being developed by government for retailers,” explains Turner. “We would also encourage government at both central and local levels to accelerate implementation of best practice measures at kerbside collection points to encourage consumers to recycle.
“However it has been made quite clear that if a voluntary retailer code is not agreed, the Government may reconsider legislation which would have no environmental merit and would fly in the face of common sense.”
