Ban or Tax Plastic shopping bag
日本 米国カリフォルニア州 スコットランド アイルランド バングラデシュ
台湾 南オーストラリア 南アフリカ インドMumbai （旧ボンベイ） イタリー
2005年07月11日 Chemnet Tokyo
広がる「レジ袋規制」の動き
各国の現状
日本ではスーパーやコンビニなどで無料配布されているレジ袋について、国が有料化のルールをつくり、業界を指導することとなった。年間300億枚が流通しているといわれるレジ袋の使用を控えさせ、便利さの一方、増え続けるプラスチックごみの減量化を狙う。
環境グループは全世界で毎年5,000億枚から1兆枚の袋が使われていると推計するが、環境問題や資源問題からレジ袋規制の動きは世界中で見られる。以下に各国の動きを見る。
イタリアは最も早く1989年、捨てられた袋が海岸や海を汚し、イルカが袋を飲み込んで死ぬ恐れがあるという理由で、プラスチック袋に対する税金を導入した。製造者・輸入者に1袋につき100リラ(約7円)の税金をかけている。
アイルランドでは、2002年から1袋15アイリッシュ・セント(約25円)のプラスチック税「Plastax」が課せられた。この結果、使用量は90%減少し、多額の税収は環境計画に使われている。
スコットランドでは今秋、1袋10ペンス(約20円)の課税法案が審議される。通れば2007年から施行されることとなる。
米国カリフォルニア州では、2003年にレジ袋やカップに3セントを課税する法案が出されたが小売業者やプラスチック業界の反対で否決された。環境団体では現在25セントの課税を主張している。
日本では東京都杉並区が2002年、レジ袋1枚につき5円の税金を課す「レジ袋税(すぎなみ環境目的税)条例」を制定した。ただし税の施行については、景気の動向やレジ袋の削減状況等に配慮し、議会と協議した上、総務省への同意協議が必要ということで、今のところ具体的な日程は決っていない。
プラスチック袋を課税による規制ではなく、販売や使用そのものを禁止している国も多い。バングラデシュでは捨てられたPE袋が下水を詰まらせるとして、首都ダッカでのPE袋の販売と使用の完全禁止を行った。
インドのムンバイ(ボンベイ)
も、薄いプラスチック袋を禁止した。下水を詰まらせ、雨季に町中が水浸しになったのが理由。違反者には2,000ルピー(約5,000円)の罰金が課せられる。
台湾では使い捨ての袋や食品容器を提供する業者に対して罰金が課せられる。当初罰金は1,800台湾ドル〜9,000台湾ドル(約6,000円〜31,000円)であったが、その後大幅に減額された。
南オーストラリア州では2008年末から使い捨てプラスチック袋が禁止される。同州では他の州や連邦政府が同じ措置を取るよう、今月の環境大臣会議で主張した。
南アフリカでは、プラスチックの袋が道路や生垣など、いたるところに散らばっているため、"national
flower" (国花)と呼ばれていたが、2003年からプラスチック袋を使用する小売業者には、10万ランド(約160万円)の罰金か10年の刑が課せられることになった。
(注：中国では "white pollution" と呼ばれている)
朝日新聞 2005/6/10 「レジ袋有料」義務化せず…経産省と環境省方針
レジ袋、０７年にも有料化 法整備で促進 環境省方針
スーパーやコンビニなどで無料配布されているレジ袋が、有料化される見通しとなった。国が有料化のルールをつくり、業界を指導する。年間３００億枚が流通しているといわれるレジ袋の使用を控えさせ、増え続けるプラスチックごみの減量化を狙う。金額や仕組みは今後、議論する。環境省は、来年の通常国会に提出する容器包装リサイクル法（容リ法）改正案に盛り込む方針で、早ければ０７年春にも実施したい考えだ。
業界団体によると、レジ袋は、国民１人当たり年間約３００枚使われていると推定されている。家庭から出される袋は、容リ法ではプラスチックごみとして分別、再利用されることになっているが、減量化はなかなか進んでいない。そのため、消費者が持参するマイバッグの普及とともに、レジ袋の有料化が必要と判断した。
同省は、現在検討している容リ法の改正で、レジ袋の無料配布を禁止することも検討したが、「営業の自由」を侵すとの議論もあり難航。そのため、国はレジ袋の削減目標を定め、業界が達成状況を報告、公表するルールを作る。有料化を徹底させるために、業界を指導、勧告し、規制効果を持たせたい考えだ。
レジ袋の金額などの具体的な方法は、秋までに中央環境審議会などで詰めていく方針だ。
有料化されると、レジ袋は「商品」となり、容リ法の対象外となる。これまで、小売業界が負担していた再商品化への負担金も取れなくなることから、新たなリサイクルの仕組みも作りたい考えだ。
有料化を巡っては、生活協同組合ですでに１枚５〜１０円で実施しており、レジ袋を使わない人にスタンプを発行し一定額を払い戻すなどの試みも各地で始まっている。しかし、ほとんどのスーパーなどでは、先行して有料化に乗り出せば、無料の店に客が流れる懸念があるため、有料化に踏み切れない状況だ。
自治体では、東京都杉並区が０２年、レジ袋１枚につき５円の税金を課す「レジ袋税（すぎなみ環境目的税）条例」を制定したが、施行されていない。
(2002/3/18
可決。税の施行については、景気の動向やレジ袋の削減状況等に配慮し、議会との協議をし、総務省への同意協議が必要となりますので、今のところ具体的な日程は未定です。
http://www2.city.suginami.tokyo.jp/library/file/skmzei_jorei_nerai1612.pdf )
全国の主要スーパー約１００社でつくる「日本チェーンストア協会」は、無料配布を続ける店舗がでることを警戒。５月、法制化を促すよう求める要望書を中央環境審議会に提出し、業界全体で一律に有料化を実施できる方法を要望している。
◇ ◇
〈キーワード・レジ袋〉 ポリエチレンで作られた袋で、国内で消費される半分以上が輸入。省資源化やごみの減量化によって、５年前より約２０％薄くなっている。使用済みのレジ袋は、約半数の市町村でプラスチックごみとして分別収集され、プラスチック製品や原料油などとして再利用されている。残りの市町村では、焼却されたり、埋め立てられたりしている。海外では、０２年に韓国でデパートやスーパーが業界内で自主的に協約で有料化を決めた。台湾では法律で有料化を規定。アイルランドでは、レジ袋配布時に税金を徴収している。
Seattle Post-Intelligencer July 21, 2004
Plastic Left Holding the
Bag as Environmental Plague
Nations around world look at a ban
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/182949_bags21.html
Imagine a world without
plastic shopping bags. It could be the future.
There is a growing international movement to ban or discourage
the use of plastic bags because of their environmental effects.
Countries from Ireland to Australia are cracking down on the bags
and action is beginning to stir in the United States.
The ubiquitous plastic shopping bag, so handy for everything from
toting groceries to disposing of doggie doo, may be a victim of
its own success. Although plastic bags didn't come into
widespread use until the early 1980s, environmental groups
estimate that 500 billion to 1 trillion of the bags are now used
worldwide every year.
Critics of the bags say they use up natural resources, consume
energy to manufacture, create litter, choke marine life and add
to landfill waste.
"Every time we use a new plastic bag they go and get more
petroleum from the Middle East and bring it over in
tankers," said Stephanie Barger, executive director of Earth Resource
Foundation
in Costa Mesa, Calif. "We are extracting and destroying the
Earth to use a plastic bag for 10 minutes."
The foundation is calling for a 25 cent tax on
plastic bags in California.
A bill that would have imposed a 3 cent tax on
plastic shopping bags and cups was sidelined in the California
Legislature last year
after heavy opposition from the retail and plastics industries.
The plastics industry took a "proactive stance" by
working with retailers to encourage greater recycling, rather
than "putting on taxes to address the problem," said
Donna Dempsey, executive director of the Film and Bag Federation,
a trade association for the plastic bag industry.
The tax proposals are loosely modeled on
Ireland's "PlasTax," a levy of about 20 cents that
retail customers have had to pay for each plastic bag since March
2002. The use of plastic bags in Ireland dropped more than 90
percent following imposition of the tax, and the government has
raised millions of dollars for recycling programs.
Similar legislation was introduced in
Scotland
last month and is being discussed for the rest of the United
Kingdom.
Consumers seem agreeable to giving up the bags, said Claire
Wilton, senior waste campaigner at Greenpeace-UK.
"There certainly hasn't been an angry uprising of shoppers
(in Ireland) saying we want our bags for free," Wilton said.
"I think a lot of people recognize they are wasteful. That's
why they try to save them to use again, although they often
forget to bring them with them when they shop."
In Australia, about 90 percent of retailers
have signed up with the government's voluntary program
to reduce plastic bag use. A law that went into effect last
year in Taiwan requires restaurants,
supermarkets and convenience stores to charge customers for
plastic bags and utensils. It has resulted in a 69 percent drop
in use of plastic products, according to news reports.
One of the key concerns is litter. In China, plastic
bags blowing around the streets are called "white
pollution."
In
South Africa, the bags are so prominent in the countryside that
they have won the derisive title of "national flower."
The plastics industry says the solution to bag litter is to
change people, not the product.
"Every piece of litter has a human face behind it. If they
are a harm to the environment in terms of visual blight, then
people need to stop littering," said Rob Krebs, a spokesman
for the American Plastics Council.
One of the most dramatic impacts is on marine life. About 100,000
whales, seals, turtles and other marine animals are killed by
plastic bags each year worldwide, according to Planet Ark, an
international environmental group.
Last September, more than 354,000 bags -- most of them plastic --
were collected during an international cleanup of costal areas in
the United States and 100 other countries, according to the Ocean
Conservancy.
The bags were the fifth most common item of debris found on
beaches.
CRACKING DOWN
Some countries are cracking down on the use of plastic bags.
Here's a look at the issue:
# About 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide
every year, according to Vincent Cobb, founder of
reuseablebags.com.
# Countries that have banned or taken action to discourage the
use of plastic bags include Australia, Bangladesh, Ireland, Italy, South
Africa and Taiwan. Mumbai
(formerly Bombay), India, also has banned the bags.
# Australians were using nearly 7 billion bags a year, and nearly
1.2 billion bags a year were being passed out free in Ireland
before government restrictions, according to government
estimates.
# Plastic industry trade associations were unable to provide
estimates of plastic bag use in the United States. However, based
on studies of plastic bag use in other nations, the environmental
group Californians Against Waste estimates Americans use 84
billion plastic bags annually.
# The first plastic sandwich bags were introduced in 1957.
Department stores started using plastic bags in the late 1970s
and supermarket chains introduced the bags in the early 1980s.
# Overall, the U.S. plastics and related industries employed
about 2.2 million U.S. workers and contributed nearly $400
million to the economy in 2002, according to The Society of the
Plastics Industry.
Scotland スコットランドの「レジ袋税」審議延期に
British Plastics &
Rubber on-line 2005/6/27
Scottish bag tax proposal is echoed around the world
http://www.polymer-age.co.uk/news.htm#Scottish%20bag%20tax%20proposal%20is%20echoed%20around%20the%20world
The plan to impose a tax on plastic carrier bags proposed a year
ago by Scottish MP Mike Pringle could be debated by the
Parliament in the Autumn, and if it is passed, the legislation
could be in force as early as 2007.The Bill proposes placing a 10 p charge on
all plastic carrier bags given out in Scotland and follows similar legislation
in the Republic of Ireland and other countries.
The objectives of the bill are to protect the environment by
reducing the number of bags and by investing the money raised in
environmental improvements; to encourage reuse of finite
resources and help local councils meet their waste plan targets;
and to raise awareness of environmental issues such as recycling
and litter.
The Carrier Bag Consortium, set up by bag producers in 2002
following the introduction of the Irish tax, rebutted the
proposal on the grounds that it would bring no environmental
gain, but would risk job losses and business closures. Retailers
expressed concern that it would put Scottish retailers at a
disadvantage compared with those in England, where there are no
plans to introduce such a levy.
While local focus is on
taxing bags in Scotland, on the other side of the world plastic
bags are being banned. South Australia's State Government is to
introduce legislation to ban single-use bags from January 1,
2008. Around 500 million thin single-use bags are used by
retailers every year in South Australia, and 'vast numbers end up
as rubbish, clogging waterways and blighting the landscape'.
Environment Minister John Hill is urging federal and state
environment ministers to support a national ban, and is
threatening to introduce a statewide ban anyway if a national ban
is not supported.
There is already a voluntary agreement among state environment
ministers to phase out these bags by the end of 2008, and
retailers are working towards a voluntary code. The Australian
Retailers Association's voluntary code led major supermarkets to
reduce the use of bags by 26 per cent last year and a target for
a 50 per cent drop has been set for the end of this year. But the
government doesn't expect a voluntary code to achieve any more
than that.
Up to 6・9 billion plastic bags were used
in Australia last year, of which about 6・01 billion were single-use.
And in Japan the Environment Ministry is working on a plan to
bring in charges for plastic bags to reduce consumption. There is
a particular aim here. The country that hosted the Kyoto
conference with its controversial agreement to cut greenhouse
gases is struggling to meet its own commitments, and reducing the
level of plastic bags in household waste could contribute to its
goal.
BBC News 2002/8/20
Irish bag tax hailed success
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2205419.stm
A tax on plastic shopping
bags in the Republic of Ireland has cut their use by more than
90% and raised millions of euros in revenue, the government says.
The tax of 15 cents per bag was introduced five months ago in
an attempt to curb litter, and the improvement had been immediate
and "plain to see", said Environment Minister Martin
Cullen.
He said that the 3.5
million euros in extra revenue raised so far would be spent on
environmental projects.
The
"plastax" is
being closely watched by other countries, particularly
neighbouring Britain.
Bangladesh
has banned polythene bags altogether while Taiwan and Singapore are
taking steps to discourage their use.
"The levy has been an outstanding success in achieving what
it set out to do," said Mr Cullen.
"Over one billion plastic bags will be removed from
circulation while raising funding for future environmentally
friendly initiatives."
He added: "It is clear that the levy has not only changed
consumer behaviour in relation to disposable plastic bags, it has
also raised national consciousness about the role each one of us
can, and must play if we are to tackle collectively the problems
of litter and waste management."
Windblown litter
The environment ministry estimated that about 1.2 billion free
plastic bags were being handed out every year in the republic,
leaving windblown bags littering Irish streets and the
countryside.
In the three months after the tax was introduced, shops handed
out just over 23 million plastic bags - about 277 million fewer
than normal, the government said.
Shoppers are being encouraged to use tougher, reusable bags.
The ministry said that if the current trend continued, the tax
would bring in 10 million euros in a full year.
Other countries around the world are also taking action to curb
plastic bag litter.
In March, Bangladesh banned
polythene bags
after it was found that they were blocking drainage systems and
had been a major culprit during the 1988 and 1998 floods that
submerged two-thirds of the country.
Taiwan and Singapore are also moving to ban free plastic bags and in South Africa
they have been dubbed the "national flower" because so many can be seen
flapping from fences and caught in bushes.
BBC News 2002/1/1
Bangladesh bans polythene
Dhaka has severe environmental problems
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1737593.stm
The Bangladesh Government
has begun enforcing a complete ban on the sale and use
of polythene bags in the capital, Dhaka.
Environment Minister Shahajahan Siraj says the decision has been
taken to save the city from an imminent environmental disaster.
Environmental groups say the millions of polythene bags disposed
of everyday are clogging Dhaka's drainage system, posing a
serious environmental hazard.
Polythene shopping bags were introduced into Bangladesh nearly
two decades ago, quickly replacing jute bags traditionally in use
in every household of Bangladesh.
Overcrowded
A recent study says that in Dhaka an average household uses about
four polythene bags a day.
Everyday, nearly 10 million polythene bags are disposed of by
Dhaka residents.
Environmental groups say that without tougher environmental
legislation it will be very difficult for the government to
attain any success in its fight against polythene
These discarded polythene bags have posed a new environmental
threat for an overcrowded city which is already suffering from
high levels of air pollution and other kinds of environmental
hazards.
The government's decision to ban polythene was generally welcomed
by the public, but environmental groups are doubtful how far the
government will go to implement the decision.
The Environment Ministry has launched a massive publicity
campaign to persuade the public not to use polythene bags.
Environment Minister Shahajahan Siraj says the campaign has been
successful in raising the awareness of the public about the
hazards of the bags.
Mr Siraj says they are promoting jute bags as an alternative to
polythene and people have responded positively.
Production ban
Despite the campaign, a large number of Dhaka residents were seen
on Tuesday using polythene bags which they say are user friendly
and cheaper.
Environmental groups say that, without tougher environmental
legislation, it will be very difficult for the government to
attain any success in its fight against polythene.
Mr Siraj said the government would propose a bill in the next
session of the parliament to ban the production of polythene
bags.
He warned the measure could take some time as they had to think
of alternative employment for nearly 18,000 workers now employed
in the industry.
Christian Science Monitor
June 15, 2004 edition
Wrap that in plastic? Not in Taiwan, unless you pay
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0615/p07s02-woap.html
The island has
drastically reduced plastic waste. But activists say a cut in
fines for violations may harm progress.
It's not often that an Asian country beats out the West with
progressive environmental policy. Yet that's just what Taiwan has
done, with regulations that have dramatically reduced use of what
many consider a scourge - the plastic bag.
Single-use plastics, so ubiquitous in modern life and so
prevalent across Asia, have become something of a novelty in this
island nation since the country's Environmental Protection
Administration (EPA) implemented tough restrictions - namely, large fines
against businesses that give away plastic bags, utensils, and
Styrofoam and plastic food containers.
The final phase of the three-stage restrictions took effect in
January 2003. Since then, EPA officials said this month, use of
plastic shopping bags has been cut by 69 percent nationwide.
Factoring in heavier use of paper bags, the agency says overall
waste from shopping bags has dropped by 65 percent. Plastic
tableware has nearly disappeared from the island, with usage
dropping by 90 percent since the restrictions took effect.
Overall, estimates show that Taiwan has reduced its solid-waste
output by roughly 25 percent since the policies came into effect.
But environmentalists fear the Taiwan government may be trashing
a good program with the recent move to drastically reduce the
fines. On May 18, the Legislative Yuan approved a proposal to cut
them from the original range of $1,800 to $9,000
to between $35 and
$180 per offense.
"It's pretty distressing," says Taipei environmental
attorney Robin Winkler.
EPA officials defended the move, saying the heavy fines were
"deemed as unreasonable judgment by the public for
small-scale restaurants." The agency denies it has any
intention of eliminating the regulations altogether. Chen says
the high fines discouraged actual enforcement of the law because
many police officers would issue simple warnings rather than dole
out big fines.
Taiwan's ban on distribution of free plastic containers came
after years of haggling among environmentalists, government
officials, and industry on how to handle the nation's trash. The
country is roughly the size of Maryland and Delaware combined,
with 22.5 million inhabitants and a thriving postmanufacturing
consumer economy. In other words, lots of garbage in a small
space.
Garbage pickers, the very grassroots of recycling and still
prevalent in developing countries, disappeared from Taiwan as
living standards rose through the 1980s. Huge landfills took
over, threatening to swamp the island with trash. Then the
country moved to garbage incinerators up until about five years
ago, when the toxic byproducts became overwhelming. The EPA then
opted to move toward reducing waste at the source, one of which
was disposable plastic.
These days in Taipei, shoppers leave the supermarket with
armloads of groceries - goods packed in cardboard boxes, and in
their own used plastic or cloth shopping bags. New plastic bags
cost one New Taiwan dollar (3 cents) a piece.
Consumers say penny pinching and environmental awareness both
have pushed them away from buying bags and demanding disposable
food containers. Taiwan has a heightened sense of environmental
awareness, given its small size. Take-away iced coffee comes in
paper cups, not plastic. Fast-food containers are paper only - no
plastic cartons or utensils without a fee.
The EPA says its own public-opinion polls show that 80 percent of
consumers still support the plastics restrictions, even though a
full one-third of residents admit they find the restrictions
inconvenient.
Some small shops flout the law and still do provide free bags,
and about 20 percent of shoppers still buy one-time use bags. But
waste has been scaled far back from before the ban, when it was
estimated that Taiwan used 2.5 plastics bags per day per person,
adding up to 20 billion bags each year.
Bangladesh, Singapore, Ireland, and Australia have also
implemented bans and tariffs on plastic bags, while others are
considering such measures. South Korea has an antiplastics policy
nearly as aggressive as Taiwan's. And even across the Taiwan
Straits in China, where the plastic bag is used to transport
everything from potted plants to new puppies, officials in
Shanghai have pledged to implement bag restrictions.
Taiwan's plastics industry predicted major economic losses and
fought the policy before it went into place. As yet the industry
has reported some economic losses, but exports appear to have
made up the balance. The Taiwan Plastics Industry Association
doesn't have any new figures on job loss related to the
regulations.
NEWS.com.au 2005/7/1
Minister's push for plastic-bag ban
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,15787514%255E1702,00.html
SOUTH Australia will push
for a national ban on the use of plastic shopping bags at a
meeting of environment ministers in Perth today. State
Environment Minister John Hill said he wanted other states and
the Federal Government to agree to a ban from January, 2009.
Single
use plastic bags will be banned in SA from the end of 2008.
"Agreement on this ban will be a major win for South
Australia, but more importantly a win for the environment,"
Mr Hill said.
Advertisement:
"It will show that Australia is committed to getting rid of
plastic bags and is leading the way on the international stage.
"At the moment there are more than six billion single-use
plastic bags used in Australia every year with most ending up in
landfill or in waterways, polluting our seas and killing
wildlife.
"Supporting a ban on bags is a major step that we can take
as consumers that will have a really positive impact on our
environment."
Mr Hill said South Australia would push ahead with its planned
ban on plastic bags regardless of the position of other states.
BBC News May 9, 2003
South Africa bans plastic
bags
South Africa is making the thin and flimsy plastic bag illegal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3013419.stm
Known as the country's "national
flower" because
they litter streets - retailers handing out the bags now
face a fine of 100,000 rand ($13,800) or a 10-year jail sentence.
The legislation means shoppers will either have to take bags with
them when they go shopping, or buy new, thick, stronger plastic
bags that are easier and more profitable to recycle.
According to the South African Government the country uses eight
billion bags a year.
"Each plastic bag has a life of its own but we do not want
it to end up on the street. We want everyone, from the producer
to the retailer to the consumer, to start recycling," said
Phindile Makwakwa, spokeswoman for the environment ministry.
"We want to get rid of plastic bag waste completely. We are
hoping to walk around in our streets in a year's time and see far
less waste."
The move from bags with an average of 17 microns in thickness to
the new minimum of 30 microns started about two years ago.
The government wanted to ban all plastic bags thinner than 80
microns, but the proposal caused an outcry among trade unions and
business.
A micron, or micrometer, is one-thousandth of a millimetre (one
25th of a thousandth of an inch). A human hair measures about 50
microns across.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said it would
lead to the closure of factories and some 3,800 job losses, while
plastics manufacturers said it was impossible to produce
80-micron bags with their existing equipment.
Businesses 'ready'
However, a compromise was reached: the new law would permit
plastic bags with a minimum thickness of 30 microns, jobs in the
plastic manufacturing and retail industries would be retained and
new jobs would be created in the recycling industries.
Despite the sectors signing an agreement in September last year,
newspapers reported this week that manufacturers were working
around the clock, but were unlikely to meet the Friday deadline
and that many shops would continue using the thinner bags.
| PLASTIC
FACTS SA uses 8bn bags annually Law aims to reduce bag use by 50% Bags now must be thick as a rubbish bag |
"We have really
given them enough time. Unfortunately change for some people is
never easy and they will keep on trying to get an
extension," Ms Makwakwa told AFP news agency.
"But we've had an assurance from business that they will be
ready... The law is the law and we are optimistic that the people
are ready."
From Friday, the cost of the thick plastic bags will be carried
by the customer.
Up to now the shopping bags have been handed out free-of-charge
to shoppers.
Reservations
Some South Africans oppose the new law.
"You mustn't cut off the plastic. That means you are killing
us. To buy food and buy plastic it's more expensive," one
Johannesburg shopper told the BBC.
Poor South Africans use the bags to make hats, handbags, purses
and scrubbing brushes which they then sell.
If they have to buy the bags - then the prices of their products
will be forced upwards.
"I am very upset I've got four children and they need food
and clothes," said one South African woman who makes
handbags from bags.
But others feel the clamp down on plastic will benefit the
environment.
"I grew up in the war. There was no such thing as a plastic
bag. We all carried bags. It's fine as far as I'm
concerned," said one shopper.
The Plastic Menace
Heavy rains lashed Mumbai city a few months ago, the worst rains
in decades. The downpour literally brought the city to a
standstill. And all because of discarded plastic bags. Plastic
bags or polythene bags are essentially made of petro-chemicals.
These bags are very thin and in a strong wind can fly away from
garbage bins and land on drains and rain-water channels. The bags then clog
the drains as they do not let water to flow through.
The choked gutters and drains in Mumbai caused serious water
logging and flooding. Fortunately the rain and the flooding did
have a positive aspect - it made the Mayor of Mumbai sit up and
take notice of the plastic bag menace in the city.
An
immediate ban on thin plastic bags was declared. The ban came into effect on
August 15, India's Independence Day. The Mumbai Municipal
Corporation workers were called in to help enforce the ban. They
were told to seize bags that do not conform to the standards (all
bags thinner than 20 microns or 2 x 10-5 metre thickness).
The squads were given power to fine defaulters a
sum of up to Rs 2,000 ($1 equals Rs 46). Within the first two days itself
they seized 8,000 kg of plastic bags and recovered Rs 1.5 million
in fines.
Plastic bags are non-biodegradable, that is, they take years to
disintegrate and decompose. Many animals, like cows and pigs, die
as they unknowingly swallow these bags while eating. Coloured
plastic bags are even more dangerous. Chemical dyes like cadmium
and lead are used to colour these bags and the chemicals affect
the kidneys or our bones.
But why ban only thin polythene bags. Why not all plastic bags?
The fact is most shopkeepers use thin plastic bags. Thick plastic
bags are very expensive and cost four times more than the thin
variety. Thin bags are of very poor quality and can rarely be
reused. As a result, these flimsy bags land up in drains and
gutters.
Of course thicker plastic bags are unsafe too, but at least they
can be recycled. Many shopkeepers say they cannot afford thick
plastic bags. Paper packets, which are the only alternative, are
just not strong enough.
Some Indian companies have now come forward with a proposal to
make paper bags that are laminated with a thin sheet of plastic
that is environmental friendly. They claim that this bio-plastic,
made of natural products, decomposes within a month.
But scientists say that these bio-plastics are not completely
degradable. They are usually a combination of 50% natural
material (that decomposes easily) and 50% non-degradable
chemicals. So only half the sheet actually disintegrates within a
month.
The fight against plastic bags continues and the only way we can
do our bit is by refusing to accept plastic bags. So try and take
a jute (or cloth) bag the next time you go to the market.
In 1989, Italy introduced
a tax on plastic bags. Abandoned plastic bags were an eyesore on
Italian beaches and on the sea, and posed a danger to dolphins
who could swallow a plastic bag and die.
The new tax sought to have the price of bags better reflect the
cost that they imposed onto society and on the environment.
By levying a tax of 100 lira (about 6 cents)
per plastic bag on importers or producers, the Italian government created a
new signal to the market economy ? the cost of plastic bags was
now greater compared to alternatives. The tax was about five
times as great as the manufacturing cost per bag. From 1989 to
1992, the government took in over 250 billion lira (around $150
million) through this tax.
Implemention Date 1989 - 1992
British Plastics & Rubber 2005/12/6
Scottish bag tax put on hold
The proposed Scottish
plastic bag tax, which reports this past weekend had said would
be rejected today by the Scottish Parliament has not been killed,
but put on hold for another nine months pending clarification.
The Parliament's Environment and Rural Development Committee
believes that the bill is not ready to proceed until Mike Pringle
MSP (the member in charge of the bill) and Ross Finnie MSP, the
Minister for Environment and Rural Development, provide further
information. Committee Convener Sarah Boyack said: 'The proposal
seems very simple, but we found that the possible impacts of the
levy are actually very complex on a whole range of issues.
Whether the bill would result in a positive net environmental
impact is hotly disputed. The way the levy is to be administered
also raises concerns about the costs and complexity. These issues
make it difficult to judge whether this proposed levy scheme will
be able to achieve its aims.'
The committee noted a number of areas where further work is
required, including a need to consider the potential job losses
and economic impact in both the plastic bag industry and some
retail sectors as part of the Executive's green jobs strategy;
improvements to the administration of the levy to make it more
centralised and cost-effective; and clarification of whether VAT
would be imposed on the levy, which creates 'huge potential
confusion'.
The committee has requested reports from Mike Pringle and the
Minister by August 31, 2006 and it will then make its final
recommendation. That would give time to allow the bill to
complete its process before the Parliament is dissolved for the
2007 Scottish elections.