MOSCOW (MRC) -- The UK government has recently confirmed that the country’s plastic carrier bag charge will be extended to all retailers from April 2021 and doubled to 10 pence (13 cents), reported Chemweek.
The current 5 pence charge was introduced in 2015 and applies to any retailer employing 250 or more people.
The government cites statistics showing that the charge has led to a 95% cut in plastic bag sales in major supermarkets in the UK. Extending and doubling the charge will take the country closer to its previously announced ambition to eliminate avoidable plastic waste over 25 years and “build back greener” after COVID-19, it says.
“Our carrier bag charge has been hugely successful in taking billions of harmful plastic bags out of circulation,” UK environment secretary George Eustice says.
The government says that as a result of the carrier bag charge, the average person in England now buys just four bags a year from the main supermarkets, compared with 140 in 2014. “By extending the charge to all retailers, ministers want to see bag usage cut significantly in small shops as well, with customers incentivized to use long-life bags made from more sustainable and environmentally-friendly materials,” it says.
As MRC wrote previously,due to protection measures against coronavirus, consumers no longer bring their durable bags to supermarkets, said Turkish Plastic Industrialists Research, Development and Education Association (PAGEV) in April 2020. According to Yavuz Eroglu, the president of PAGEV, consumers increasingly prefer single-use plastic bags during these pandemic days.
In the early days of the pandemic, Turkish Trade Ministry announced a new decision on the mandatory use of plastic bags in groceries and bakeries. Last year, Turkey issued a regulation in order to reduce to consumption of plastic bags. According to this, single-use plastic bags are subject to a fee of 0,25 Turkish Lira (0,03 Euro). However, this could be a burden on some people, Eroglu contends.
Turkey is the second largest producer in Europe following Italy. "Turkey is the third largest exporter in the world after China and Italy. Factories continue to produce single-use plastic materials and meet both domestic and global demands," said Eroglu. Turkey's top export market for single-use plastics is Israel with a share of 25%. Israel is followed by France, UK and the US.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE) shipments increased.
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