New charges on plastic bags will be handed to charity

Small shopkeepers and fast food chain Subway plan to charge five pence on plastic bags, in order to donate to charity.

 

The Association of Convenience Stores – which represents up to 34,000 small shops and takeaway outlets – has decided to implement these charges.

 

Due to become compulsory in supermarkets and department stores in England from October 2015, the move aims to reduce the damage caused by discarded bags.

 

Most will be used for less than an hour, but will take almost 1,000 years to decompose and those that litter the landscape can cause animals to suffer painful deaths after becoming tangled in them.

 

Money raised from these new charges will be handed to charities that deal with the impact of discarded bags on the environment and on wildlife.

 

Shane Brennan, public affairs director at the Association of Convenience Stores, revealed there was a “strong appetite” among shopkeepers to apply the charges.

 

“But the association wants to stay exempt from rules being implemented for larger retailers, who must report proceeds back to the Government, to ‘avoid unnecessary regulatory burden',” he added.

 

Scotland will also introduce a five pence charge next year, while the charge on single-carrier bags in Northern Ireland will rise to 10 pence.