Plastic Bag Levy - Retrospective

Balfa

I'm just wondering what the general feeling on the plastic bag levy is. I mean, i'm sure most people think it's a good thing, but do people notice a difference on our streets? Have you actually bought a plastic bag? What are your opinions and feelings on it now that it's been around a while?
Are there any figures on how much the government are making on plastic bag taxes? Or how effectively they've used that money?

I have to say, i honestly haven't noticed much difference in the state of the streets or countryside. That is, i never really realised that plastic bags were a problem before.
I've only bought a bag once, and that was by accident, cos i was a bit hurried

Victor

I have to admit I have bought 4 or 5 (and about 3-4 reusable bags), usually when I realise on they way home that there is no food in the cupboard.

I think it has worked, consumption of bags is down about 88% since the introduction. About €9m has been collected equating to 60m bags in 6-7 months, compared to about 1,000m bags for all of last year.

Next step is convenience and fast food wrappings, chewing gum and drink containers please.

pertinax

Can some one tell me how many trees were beaten to death to make the many paper bags given out nowadays.
Actually i'd like figures for how many paper bags get recycled more and how many trees died to make them.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Keeks

Originally posted by Victor
Next step is convenience and fast food wrappings, chewing gum and drink containers please.

Has anyone else noticed that most of these items actually contain the "Green Dot" recyclable thingy.....Thats beginning to bug me

Redshift

Originally posted by Victor

Next step is convenience and fast food wrappings, chewing gum and drink containers please.

have you ever walked down any main street in town and noticed the carpet of chewing gum just look at our new millenium bridge, and where I live in dunlaoghaire the council recently went to the trouble of providing a very attractive pedestrian area and already there is Chewing gum all over it.
I chew gum but I always manage to find a bin when im done with it. I think charlie should through 20 cent onto a packet of gum in the budget to pay for the clean up then maybe the 'ignorami' who insist on dropping it where they stand may think twice.

Rant Over!

Redshift

Cake Fiend

It works. I've been reusing bags and I've hardly bought any plastic bags since it was introduced - not because of the levy itself, more because the reason for the levy was brought to my conscious attention (I wouldn't p1ss on 15c, never mind think twice about paying it for a plastic bag).

Gerry

Probably one of the best things the government have ever done, I've stopped buying plastic bags completely. I would be suspicious though, of some shops giving out plastic bags and covering the cost themselves.

Balfa

Originally posted by Redshift
I think charlie should through 20 cent onto a packet of gum in the budget to pay for the clean up then maybe the 'ignorami' who insist on dropping it where they stand may think twice.

I don't think that'd help. people don't think about how much something cost when they're disposing of it. I go through LOADS of chewing gum (and dispose of it correctly)... 50c a pack is already too much. 70c a pack would be plain ridiculous.

oneweb

I worked in a shop for a few months before the charges, and everyone duly got their purchase bagged with a smile. (Apart from the few who were decent enough to state that they didn't need one just for a single item)

On the run up to the charges, I took as many bags as I could without looking obvious.

Once the charges were in, I gave people their stuff and said "Thanks. Bye bye" And most of them stood looking at me as if I was yet another of those stupid morons who don't care about customer service. "Eh, do I not get a bag?" "I can give you one, but they're 15c each" "What? Jaysus, that's a disgrace." etc (it was still happening a few weeks ago)

When you tell them that "We don't get a cent from the charge, it all goes to the government", most were happy to say feck that and take their stuff unbagged.

I don't buy the 15c bags purely coz it all goes to the govt. I did need some heavy duty ones though.

And it IS a good idea. Whenever I went into Roches or Dunnes, the number of bags some oul wans took for the weekly shoppin was a pure disgrace. Plus those bag packers who packed each item in a fresh bag (except raw and cooked meat, which were put into the same bag :rolleyes:) It might not be noticable on the street, but I'm sure the landfills aren't being filled quite so fast.

Pity the money isn't all going back the environment. (OK, so they say it is, but do you believe anything they say?)

And what are all those eager beavers/cubs/irish dancers gonna do now that they can't pack millions of bags? (Even though I never had the time for them anyway :P)

Gordon

It's not doing as well as it should as I have gone to many shops that have given out paper bags to cut the levy, in fact I've even been to a couple of shops that didn't charge me for a plastic bag. Paper bags should be treated in the same way in my opinion as Dublin or at least where I live in Dublin has no paper recycling bins close by. But in saying that I always get plastic bags as I use them for rubbish every day.

Definately do something about the other crud out there like chewing gum but levys wouldn't work. Addicted smokers would pay double the price for a pack of fags so maybe chewing gum chewers would too. Police should do more for littering, or we should have better litter wardens, paid for by the levys of plastic and paper bags etc. maybe.

Typedef

I agree that supplanting plastic bags with paper bags is a misnomer in terms of environmental protection as you trade off plastic bags in landfill for increased consumption of paper.

The ideal is to have people use re-usable bags. Alternately though there is a system similar to what the Germans have, where the industry that creates the packaging, is obliged to pay for it's cleanup.
http://www.gruener-punkt.de/ *
*Note this is not a call for rule from Berlin for all the salivating Federalists.

Cork

Pity the money isn't all going back the environment. (

Some shops offer "a bag for life" heavy plastic bags.

These bags should be replaced by the shop when they go a little shoddy.

I think the levy is basically a good idea but more needs to be done to cut down on the total waste that is needless packaging,

Victor

Hopefully this will be a thing of the past


River bank between Clonskeagh and Milltown Bridges

pugwall

I agree with the hewing gum tax. Henry street is ruined with gum. It was repaved a few years ago but it is a disgrace now. I buy about 4 packs of gum a week but always make a point to dispose of used gum correctly.
Charlie should smack a 50c tax on a standard pack ans the cash raised shoudl be used to fund the clean up of gum.

Talliesin

Originally posted by Typedef
…supplanting plastic bags with paper bags is a misnomer in terms of environmental protection as you trade off plastic bags in landfill for increased consumption of paper.

At least paper bio-degrades.

Tazz T

I agree. Most plastic bags end up in rivers and sea where they stay for an awful long time, while brown paper is gone in no time. The tax has worked. The rocks down at the mouth of the liffey aren't nearly as swamped by plastic as they used to be. Plastic bottles are still a problem tho. But not as bad as it is in some continental countries where mineral water costs next to nothing and you see the bottles everywhere.

I have to admit to buying the odd plastic bag when I'm stuck from time to time, but I reuse it for throwing out ash.

sunbeam

I do think that the bag levy is a good thing, but what really annoys me is paper bags which start to 'biodegrade' before you get home, especially if it is wet. Pennys bags in particular are just atrocious and they don't offer a choice of buying a plastic one even for large and awkward items. It is all very well if you have a car waiting nearby, but a bit of a nightmare if you have to take them on public transport. I see on the news that Spar are introducing handleless ones with ads. I hope at least that the choice of buying a reusable one remains.