Northern Ireland's Environment Minister MLA has today
launched a consultation on the NI Carrier Bag Levy.
The Minister said: “Whilst the existing Carrier Bag Levy has been
successful in already removing in excess of 1.5 billion bags from
circulation I am aware heavy duty bags are now flooding the
market, and are not being reused with harmful environmental
consequences. We can and must do more. To tackle as such we are
intending to review, simplify and future proof our existing
carrier bag legislation.”
Minister Poots added: “My Department continues to work hard on
the issue of the circular economy and has shown resolve seeking
to eliminate plastic pollution and tackle the throwaway culture.
With over five trillion single use plastic bags used worldwide
every year and plastic waste set to quadruple by 2050 we are
encouraging our citizens to act locally but think globally.”
“This new consultation will help meet the New Decade, New
Approach commitment on eliminating plastic pollution and also
underpins the Green Growth framework which I am currently
developing. It is also an integral part of the range of other
plastic reduction measures my Department has initiated through
participation in the UK Plastics Pact, support for consultations
on both a bottle deposit return scheme and the extended producer
responsibility on packaging and also the roll out of policy to
help reduce plastic used in our NI government estate.”
He concluded: “We have the most comprehensive Carrier Bag Levy in
the UK which applies to not only plastic bags but all bags, which
has already ensured that millions of pounds worth of proceeds
have been reinvested in supporting the wider NI environmental
sector. I would encourage stakeholders, industry and the general
public to actively participate in this consultation which will
run until 27 July 2021.
Notes to editors:
- The Carrier Bag Levy in Northern Ireland applies to ALL bags
and not just plastic bags
- The consultation can be accessed at: consultations.nidirect.gov.uk/daera/carrier-bag-levy-ni-consultation
- Annual validated statistics are available at: www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/northern-ireland-carrier-bag-levy-statistics
- Carrier Bag Levy legislation is available at: www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2013/4/regulation/1/made
and www.legislation.gov.uk/nia/2014/7/contents/enacted
-
DAERA is
part of the UK Plastics
Pact initiative
