Plastic bag levy

It was estimated that some 1.2 billion plastic shopping bags were provided free of charge to customers in retail outlets annually, before the introduction of the levy. It now costs 22cent to use a plastic bag for your shopping, meaning more people re-use bags and help waste managememt.

Plastic Bag Litter in Ireland -prior to the 5% levy - was high.

Litter arising from plastic bags:

• December 2002 - 0.32%
• August 2003 - 0.25%
• August 2004 - 0.22%
• August 2005 - 0.22%

 

Re-using plastic bags helps the environment in many different ways.

• The raw material of plastic bags is oil. Therefore, the more we use plastic bags, the more we waste oil - a non-renewable energy source.
• The petroleum-based plastic bags take decades to break down. It creates visual pollution: in the streets, on the beaches etc.
• Plastic bags can be recycled but it rarely happens.
• They endanger wildlife and particularly sea life such as sea turtles and dolphins which can die of entanglement, suffocation, and ingestion because they assume that these bags are jellyfish.