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Carrier bag charges still a no-show





Shoppers in Wales have been charged 5p for every carrier bag they use over the last year and new figures have shown that carrier bag usage is down 96 per cent in some areas, whilst England’s usage rose by 5.4per cent.
In December last year, environment minister Mr Benyon told Parliament that the government would review the situation in England once data from Wales was released, but this week he told the Newbury Weekly News there would be no imminent decision, stating only that a decision would be reached “in the near future.”
“We want to see how this works over a period of time, whether that reduction is sustainable or whether it’s a temporary effect,” he said.
“We want to find ways which encourage people to do the right thing without actually hitting them with a compulsory charge. A blanket charge is part of, but not all, of the solution.”
The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and three other leading environment groups have now called on Mr Benyon to speed up the process and bring in the charges to reduce their presence in the environment.
Campaigners argue that a single carrier bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade, whilst posing a severe threat to animals and marine wildlife, with even those claiming to be biodegradable simply disintergrating into tiny fragments which can still be consumed by animals.
CPRE Stop the Drop campaign manager, Samantha Harding, said: “Bag levies have been proven to work in Ireland and Wales. A levy is coming soon to Northern Ireland and Scotland is consulting on introducing one. Why must the English countryside be the last to benefit from good environmental policies?”
A spokesman for Defra, Nisar Hussain, said: "We want to work with retailers to help them lift their game to cut the number of bags they hand out.”
When the

asked members of the public for their views on the issue, they were largely resigned to the prospect of facing charges, although many admitted it would not change their shopping habits, including Newbury town councillor Ieuan Tuck.
He said: “I’ll happily pay that, it’s no problem.”
Some thought the loss of convenience would be felt, including John Robinson who argued: “Sometimes you go in for one thing and you go away with ten.”
However, there was a general consensus that charges were necessary.
One shopper, Eleanor Bridger-Wilkinson, said: “It’s a great incentive, great for the environment and 5p really isn’t very much at all."
Another, Toby Thorne added: “I would be encouraged to bring my own.”
Despite an increase in bag use in England in the last 12 months, it has reduced by 32 per cent since 2006.



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