Dublin’s fair and clean city
Only it seems he has either not done his homework, has been badly briefed or is deliberately misinforming the public about them.
Last year I wrote an academic paper on this subject, a PG Cert in Applied Social Science Research Methods, for my studies in Cambridge. I have also researched and written about it for Resource, a leading environmental waste magazine.
A couple of months after the implementation of the levy in March 2002, I told the Editor I wanted to go to the fair city of Dublin and see for myself how successful it had been – it was really eye-opening.
I suggest that Sir Terry does the same, then he can see with his own eyes how popular and successful the levy has been in reducing the number of flimsy plastic bags given out by supermarkets by a staggering 90%, a figure it has maintained since its implentation, aimed mainly at reducing the country’s littering problem.
Up until then, 1.2 billion plastic bags had been dished out annually and it was felt that imposing tough fiscal legislature was the only effective way to cut back on them.
Sir Terry was asked on Newsnight if we should have a similar scheme here. He was emphatically against it. He said people don’t tend to change their habits, it would only be a short term change.
I say that is rubbish! These were not the conclusions of my study, which I will glady send to anyone interested in this subject. Governments from all over the world continue to visit Dublin, even China I am told, to learn from their outstanding success.
If a customer wants a plastic bag while out shopping, they are charged 15 cents and the money goes into a Government Environemtal Fund and is used to improve environmental projects.
Instead, shopppers use either paper or reusable bags – even Tesco’s have designed their own much sturdier reusable bags for their stores in the Republic, I brought many home with me and they are much admired when I use them.
That’s why we need legislation here if we are be effective on environmental issues, that’s the only way we will ever succeed. The public need that extra nudge.
The plastic bag levy was a brilliant idea and one of the best things our current Government have ever done. The reduction in litter was instantly obvious. Nobody in Ireland would dream of going back. In fact most of us would support extending the concept to tackle wasteful over-packaging. Tackle the waste problem at source.
I’m actually amazed that no other countries have followed us on this, as it was such an obvious and complete success here in Ireland. Yer man from Tescos was (literally!) talking rubbish.
But arent paper bags far more environmentally damaging due to the extar transport costs etc needed to tranport them.
The last I heard was that sales of blag bin liners also shot up in the republic – as people still use platic bags to put their rubbish in.
Also arent biodegradable bags a bit of a red herring – as if they are put in one of the platic bag recycling points with other “normal” platic bags it means the whole lot cant be recycled as the biodegradable material will contaminate the whole process.
In the scheme of things desposable nappies are a much bigger issue – but what government is going to want to tackle that one?
I wonder why Tesco is so against the idea. Since the current bags represent a ongoing cost to them. Maybe Ellee could ask the bin liner manufacturers wether their sales have risen.
Meanwhile I will continue to shop at Aldi thus saving at least 30% and halving my shopping time also using my own bags since Aldi doesnt provide free ones.
Jonathan, in answer to your questions, there are always counter-productive arguments on this subject, but I do not believe that producing paper bags is more environmentally damaging and they are much easier to biodegrade. Just think about the petroleum and natural gas that is used to produce plastic bags. See http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/8238plasticbags.html
Yes it’s true about the sale of plastic big liners rising, but I do not believe this negates the benefits of shoppers using reusable bags. And you have to remember that the levy was introduced to prevent littering and has made people become more environmentally conscious too, that is what they have said. They really like this legislation and believe it is really quite odd that they are so freely available here.
Regarding nappies, the government in The Netherlands collects from doorsteps and recycles them, takes apart the different components – not a pleasant job, I know.
Geoff, in answer to your question, Tesco thinks it will be an administrative headache to operate a similar scheme. But in the RoI, the shops had to take on board the euro only a few weeks earlier and managed quite successfully.
This is a unique scheme and is regarded as a role model by many other countries.