[Metrobeans]

B471 - Plastic Bag Levy Bill 2012, TSR Liberal Democrat

Plastic Bag Levy Bill 2012

A Bill to introduce a levy for obtaining a disposable plastic bag for the storage and carrying of objects.

BE IT ENACTED by The Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, in accordance with the provisions of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

1. Charges

1.1 The supply of 'disposable plastics bags' by 'retailers' to 'customers' shall incur a levy of 10 pence for each 'disposable plastic bag' obtained by the 'customer';
1.2 Wherever 'disposable plastics bags' are available to 'customers', the 'retailer' must also supply an alternative in the form of 'reusable plastic bags';
1.3 Section 1.2 only applies if the retail premises exceed a floor space of 280 square metres;
1.4 All plastic bags used, whether 'disposable' or 'reusable', will be at least 30 micrometers in thickness;
1.5 The 'retailers' will charge the levy themselves for any 'disposable plastic bag' they or their employees use on or off the retail premises, where that use is work related;

2. Definitions

'Reusable plastic bag' means any plastic bag which is strong enough to be use several times and which can currently be purchased at a cost of no less than five times the sum of the levy set out in 1.1;
'Disposable plastic bag' means any bag not defined as a 'Reusable plastic bag' and which is thicker than 30 micrometres.
'Customer' refers to any person, people or organisation which requires a product or products from other sources.
'Retailer' refers to any person, people or organisation which supplies a product or products to other sources.

3. Payment of charges

3.1 The 10 pence levy set out in 1.1 shall be paid by the 'retailer' to the Treasury;
3.2 The 'retailer' shall pay accumulated levies on a quarterly basis, via a returns form;
3.3 Up to 10% of the levy shall be used by the Treasury to cover its administrative costs;
3.4 The rest of the levy shall be sent to an 'Environmental Improvement Scheme,' which shall allocate funding to any projects which seek to improve the natural environment of any area in the UK;

4. Exemptions

4.1 The following types of bags are exempt from all sections of this Act (including 1.4):
(1). Bags used to contain fresh meat, fish or poultry, loose fruit and vegetables and other foods that are not otherwise packaged;
(2). Bags used to contain ice and powdered detergents;
(3). Plastic bags used to contain goods or products sold on board an aircraft or ship, or in an area of a port or airport to which intending passengers are denied access unless in possession of a valid ticket or boarding card;

5. Commencement, and extent

5.1 This Act shall come into force on the first day of October 2012;
5.2 This Act extends to England;

Notes

Spoiler:

Show

Background:

1. Plastic bags normally used by retailers are usually weak and are manufactured in vast quantities. We use over 8 billion a year in the UK and the manufacture of them is dangerous to the environment.

2. These plastic bags produce a large amount of waste which is hard to dispose of, dangerous to wildlife/the environment and very slow to decompose - usually ending up as tiny plastic pellets rather than complete decomposing (tiny plastic pellets are found in huge quantities on our beaches and are being consumed by wildlife and so entering the food chain).

3. Many bags currently classed as reusable (the ones which only cost a few pence) are still often weak and are not always suitable for re-using.

4. A similar levy, on which several of the ideas outline below are based, has been introduced in Ireland; it was responsible for a 90% decrease in non-reusable bags used and brought in 3.5 million Euros revenue in the first 5 months. In the UK, we should expect a similar percentage reduction and estimate that 80-120 million Euros shall be raised in the first year; it should be noted however that the scheme will not raise any additional money overall for the government as most of the money raised shall be automatically allocated to environmental projects.

5. Links:

a. On the Irish scheme
b. Also on the Irish scheme
c. A BBC article on plastic bags

6. Will this be passed onto the consumer?
The simple answer is... yes. As explained here, the vast majority of alternative method would pass on to the consumer. It is also important to put this into perspective; the tax will raise about £100 million. In the meantime, VAT has been cut by £65 billion over the past couple of months on TSR. So before anyone brings up those 'poor troubled consumers' again.... this is the rough equivalent of a 0.1159 percentage points increase in VAT (to 4 d.p.), at the same time as VAT has fallen by 13.5 percentage points

7. Changes between first and second readings:
1. This Bill would only extend to England now because of devolution (Scotland already has a levy)
2. Abolished the 10% to business amount for administrative purposes
3. Added some more notes

[tehFrance]

Still insistent on a levy? no.

[stanlas]

(Original post by tehFrance)
Still insistent on a levy? no.

You got a better reason this time than your standard 'taxes = bad' one?

[JPKC]

The Bill's title and full name should be referenced as an act within the Bill itself.

Of course that's no reason to object, I find the policy itself to be absolutely fine.

[StarsAreFixed]

It works really well here. All high street shops use paper bags, they don't have plastic except sometimes the huge sack ones, you pay for them. Supermarkets, everyone brings or buys the reusable type. Bags for vegetables are free and not covered by the levy. Supermarkets are tending to phase out the crappy smaller plastic bags, as they're not used. I haven't seen a single plastic bag as rubbish since this was brought in, 2005? The levy is 22cent, reusable bags cost around 70cent, levy included. This is a good policy, fair play.

[cl_steele]

no, point of principle life is already expensive enough as it is without paying for every bag i have to use.

[StarsAreFixed]

Not really...spend about £2 buying a stock of reusable bags, keep them in your boot or one in your bag for smaller shop runs and you won't have to buy more for years. High street shops will use paper bags, which are free. A small price to pay for helping the environment and raising revenue. Why don't you look into the example of Ireland before dismissing it?

[Lipvig]

As previously said, would it not simply be easier to charge people say, 5 pence per plastic bag, making this charge compulsory, with the extra money going to the companies?

[Smack]

(Original post by cl_steele)
no, point of principle life is already expensive enough as it is without paying for every bag i have to use.

Then you'll just have to use the same bags over and over, as is the whole bloody point of the bill.

[jesusandtequila]

I don't see that governments should be taxing plastic bags. If the manufacture is harmful to the environment, tax the manufacture. If it's the costs of rubbish collection, then do rubbish by weight and charge that, instead of funding it through general taxation. I don't see that we should be taxing the sale of plastic bags, since we can target just the harmful actions.

[Myotherone]

Im fully supporting this bill, i feel that based on evidence from N.Ireland and Wales that this would significantly lower the amount of plastic bags in circulation and as a result help to lower the amount of damage we are doing to the environment

[stanlas]

(Original post by jesusandtequila)
I don't see that governments should be taxing plastic bags.

So who should be taxing them? Or do we just continue to throw away 8 billion bags a year?

(Original post by jesusandtequila)
If the manufacture is harmful to the environment, tax the manufacture.

Taxing the manufacturer in this case is a terrible idea.... manufacturers will just move abroad and produce plastic bags there (actually I think they already do for most of them).

[stanlas]

(Original post by cl_steele)
no, point of principle life is already expensive enough as it is without paying for every bag i have to use.

You're forgetting that you're on average 1000 pounds a year better off when shopping thanks to VAT cuts. I suggest if you have the time that you read the relevant notes section

[stanlas]

(Original post by jesusandtequila)
If it's the costs of rubbish collection, then do rubbish by weight and charge that, instead of funding it through general taxation.

Yet another brilliant idea from the Libertarians... give people even more incentive to dump their rubbish in the environment instead of putting it in bins. Its bad enough without bin taxes

[toronto353]

I don't support this. I would support the carrot rather than the stick approach in this matter. We need, I feel, to incentivise buying bags for life, for example, by making them cheaper and need to tax the manufacturing of plastic bags along with cutting tax on the manufacture of bags for life to encourage manufacturers to change from one to the other. That would increase the cost of plastic bags and make bags for life cheaper making shops more likely to switch what they buy.

After trying all that, then look to have a levy, but not until you've done all that.

It's a no from me, but it's a well written Bill.

[Smack]

(Original post by jesusandtequila)
I don't see that governments should be taxing plastic bags. If the manufacture is harmful to the environment, tax the manufacture. If it's the costs of rubbish collection, then do rubbish by weight and charge that, instead of funding it through general taxation. I don't see that we should be taxing the sale of plastic bags, since we can target just the harmful actions.

Because this gives consumers the choice about whether they want to pay extra for plastic bags or not. If the manufacturers were taxed extra they'd raise their prices, then the supermarkets would in turn raise their prices and thus all consumers, whether they use a bag for life or not, would have to share the burden.

Also remember that this is already a tried and tested method of reducing plastic bag usage in real life.

[D.R.E]

Nay.

[stanlas]

(Original post by toronto353)
I don't support this. I would support the carrot rather than the stick approach in this matter. We need, I feel, to incentivise buying bags for life, for example, by making them cheaper and need to tax the manufacturing of plastic bags along with cutting tax on the manufacture of bags for life to encourage manufacturers to change from one to the other. That would increase the cost of plastic bags and make bags for life cheaper making shops more likely to switch what they buy.

Taxing non-reusable bags is a proven way of reducing their usage, based on previous examples. However, lowering the cost of reusable ones is not. Why? Because disposable plastic bags currently don´t cost anything in many shops. What is the point of lowering the price of a reusable bag from, say, 10p to 2p, with complicated subsidies, when the alternative non-reusable one is 0p?

[stanlas]

(Original post by D.R.E)
Nay.

Good contribution to the debate. I honestly don´t see why people (from any party, not just yours) bother to reply to a debate if the only thing they have to say is aye or nay. As a general rule, if you don't have anything to say, please don't say it.

[D.R.E]

(Original post by stanlas)
Good contribution to the debate. I honestly don´t see why people (from any party, not just yours) bother to reply to a debate if the only thing they have to say is aye or nay. As a general rule, if you don't have anything to say, please don't say it.

And this post added to the debate how? You should follow your own 'general rule'. I had something to say, that I was going to vote against the bill, and I expressed that sentiment. Don't like it? I'm sure you'll get over it.

Toodles.