{"id":3591,"date":"2013-09-20T17:41:14","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T16:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/?p=3591"},"modified":"2013-09-20T17:41:14","modified_gmt":"2013-09-20T16:41:14","slug":"plastic-bag-charge-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastic Bag Charge is Coming!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3593 alignleft\" alt=\"Free Flying Plastic Bag\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/PlasticBag.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"210\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>5p per Plastic Bag<\/h2>\n<p>A 5p per plastic bag charge is coming to England. The fee, due to be launched in Autumn 2015, is being introduced by the government. It is hoped that the fee will discourage the use of plastic bags by making customers think twice. Plastic bags can take hundreds of years to degrade, can kill animals, costs the tax-payers millions to clean up, and litter the countryside.<\/p>\n<h2>The Decision<\/h2>\n<p>Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg quoted: \u201cThis is not a new problem. We\u2019ve waited too long for action. That\u2019s why I am drawing a line under the issue now.\u201d He said he hoped any money raised would be donated to environmental charities although this is still to be discussed. In Wales the money is voluntarily donated to charities.<\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>The Result<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3594 alignright\" alt=\"Pollution Caused by Plastic Bag\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/PlasticBagPollution.jpg\" width=\"290\" height=\"174\" \/><\/h2>\n<p>The charge, which includes bags made from both plastic and paper, is already in effect in Wales and Northern Ireland. The statistics here show an 80% reduction in plastic bag use since the fee was introduced. Northern Ireland had been discussing on whether to raise the charge to 10p but this was vetoed by Mark H Durkan because the present arrangements are successful.<\/p>\n<h2>Exempt?<\/h2>\n<p>Small businesses (with less than 250 employees) will be exempt from the charge and bags which meet the biodegradable standard will also be exempt as they are less harmful to the environment.<\/p>\n<h2><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3598\" alt=\"Environmentally Friendly Go Green Bag\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/EnvironmentallyFriendlyBag.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/EnvironmentallyFriendlyBag.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/EnvironmentallyFriendlyBag-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>The Professional Opinions<\/h2>\n<p>The news has been met with differing opinions: Craig Bennett, policy and campaigns director from Friends of the Earth, agreed that it is a step in the right direction but that the fee is not tackling the nation\u2019s huge waste mountain and cannot hide the government\u2019s woeful green record. He called for tougher action with more ambitious targets. While Matthew Sinclair, from the Taxpayers\u2019 Alliance, argued that the answer to every problem cannot be a new tax. He stated that the reward method when customers do not use plastic bags should be pursued instead.<\/p>\n<h2>Currently &#8230;<\/h2>\n<p>Supermarkets are already encouraging customers to use their own bags with different schemes or point systems. Plastic bags are no longer at the end of the checkouts either and have to be asked for from the checkout assistant and are often smaller for customers purchasing only a few items.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sources:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/plastic-bag-charge-set-to-benefit-the-environment\">Gov.uk: Plastic Bag Charge Set to Benefit the Environment<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-politics-24088523\">BBC News: Plastic Bag Charge to be Introduced in England<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; 5p per Plastic Bag A 5p per plastic bag charge is coming to England. The fee, due to be launched in Autumn 2015, is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[112,92],"class_list":["post-3591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-recycle"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>News About The Plastic Bag Charge Coming to England<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A 5p per plastic bag charge is being introduced by the government in the hope that it will discourage the use of plastic bags.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"News About The Plastic Bag Charge Coming to England\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A 5p per plastic bag charge is being introduced by the government in the hope that it will discourage the use of plastic bags.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Indoor\/Outdoor Lighting Guides &amp; Resources | Solar Centre\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-09-20T16:41:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/PlasticBag.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"240\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"210\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jenny Delaney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jenny Delaney\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jenny Delaney\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/91aeea976fd175d5868ff5c10da721c1\"},\"headline\":\"Plastic Bag Charge is Coming!\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-20T16:41:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/\"},\"wordCount\":404,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/PlasticBag.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Breaking News\",\"Recycle\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Breaking News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/\",\"name\":\"News About The Plastic Bag Charge Coming to England\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/PlasticBag.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-09-20T16:41:14+00:00\",\"description\":\"A 5p per plastic bag charge is being introduced by the government in the hope that it will discourage the use of plastic bags.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/PlasticBag.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/PlasticBag.jpg\",\"width\":240,\"height\":210,\"caption\":\"Free Flying Plastic Bag\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Indoor\/Outdoor Lighting Guides &amp; Resources | Solar Centre\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Indoor\/Outdoor Lighting Guides &amp; Resources | Solar Centre\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-blog-logo-grey-200.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-blog-logo-grey-200.png\",\"width\":200,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"Indoor\/Outdoor Lighting Guides &amp; Resources | Solar Centre\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/91aeea976fd175d5868ff5c10da721c1\",\"name\":\"Jenny Delaney\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7007223275fab3df8379030d342cb86785f055c021a5cc7d72b53b6dda7f06d7?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7007223275fab3df8379030d342cb86785f055c021a5cc7d72b53b6dda7f06d7?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7007223275fab3df8379030d342cb86785f055c021a5cc7d72b53b6dda7f06d7?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jenny Delaney\"},\"description\":\"Jenny enjoys baking and makes amazing banana and white chocolate chip muffins. She cares a lot about bees and their survival.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheSolarCentre\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/author\/jenny\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"News About The Plastic Bag Charge Coming to England","description":"A 5p per plastic bag charge is being introduced by the government in the hope that it will discourage the use of plastic bags.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"News About The Plastic Bag Charge Coming to England","og_description":"A 5p per plastic bag charge is being introduced by the government in the hope that it will discourage the use of plastic bags.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/","og_site_name":"Indoor\/Outdoor Lighting Guides &amp; Resources | Solar Centre","article_published_time":"2013-09-20T16:41:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":240,"height":210,"url":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/PlasticBag.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jenny Delaney","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jenny Delaney","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/"},"author":{"name":"Jenny Delaney","@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/91aeea976fd175d5868ff5c10da721c1"},"headline":"Plastic Bag Charge is Coming!","datePublished":"2013-09-20T16:41:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/"},"wordCount":404,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/PlasticBag.jpg","keywords":["Breaking News","Recycle"],"articleSection":["Breaking News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/","name":"News About The Plastic Bag Charge Coming to England","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/PlasticBag.jpg","datePublished":"2013-09-20T16:41:14+00:00","description":"A 5p per plastic bag charge is being introduced by the government in the hope that it will discourage the use of plastic bags.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/09\/20\/plastic-bag-charge-coming\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/PlasticBag.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/PlasticBag.jpg","width":240,"height":210,"caption":"Free Flying Plastic Bag"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"Indoor\/Outdoor Lighting Guides &amp; Resources | Solar Centre","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#organization","name":"Indoor\/Outdoor Lighting Guides &amp; Resources | Solar Centre","url":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-blog-logo-grey-200.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-blog-logo-grey-200.png","width":200,"height":200,"caption":"Indoor\/Outdoor Lighting Guides &amp; Resources | Solar Centre"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/91aeea976fd175d5868ff5c10da721c1","name":"Jenny Delaney","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7007223275fab3df8379030d342cb86785f055c021a5cc7d72b53b6dda7f06d7?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7007223275fab3df8379030d342cb86785f055c021a5cc7d72b53b6dda7f06d7?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7007223275fab3df8379030d342cb86785f055c021a5cc7d72b53b6dda7f06d7?s=96&r=g","caption":"Jenny Delaney"},"description":"Jenny enjoys baking and makes amazing banana and white chocolate chip muffins. She cares a lot about bees and their survival.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk","https:\/\/x.com\/TheSolarCentre"],"url":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/author\/jenny\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3591"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3599,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions\/3599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesolarcentre.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}