Bag Taxes Don't Work!
Bag Taxes Don't Work!
By Keith Lee, President, American Retail Supply
Plastic Bags Have Little Negative Environmental Effects and Many Positive Effects
Question: What happens when the government taxes retail plastic
bags to the extent that they are almost eliminated?
Answer: The use of plastic bags increases!
I know it sounds improbable, but stay with me. I spent the afternoon of April Fools day in the Mayor's office in Seattle. Mark Johnson from the Washington Retail Association invited me to join him. The Mayor's office had invited the Washington Retail Association to a meeting for an announcement about disposable bags used by retailers.
The Mayor of Seattle has taken a lead position in trying to get cities across the country to adopt the Kyoto requirements for the environment. With this, he is proposing a tax on disposable plastic and paper bags used by grocery, drug, and convenience stores in Seattle. The Mayor's office made it clear, at the meeting, that their goal is not to collect a tax on these bags, but eliminate them. They also made it clear that grocery, drug and convenience stores are a "first step" in implementing this program across all retail categories.
The Mayor's office wants to see these "disposable bags" replaced with
reusable canvas-type bags, and I think the voluntary use of these reusable bags by retailers and consumers is a great idea! The problem is, like most issues, it's not as simple as taxing "disposable bags" to eliminate their use. The Mayor's "model" for this tax is Ireland, where they have implemented this type of tax.
Again, this sounds good and fine. Who could be against using these durable bags? No one is against using these durable bags. The problem is, this tax ignores some facts that are now known from the Irish experiment.
After implementing this tax, that virtually eliminated "disposable bags" in Ireland, the nationwide use of "disposable bags" has increased. While researching the expansion of the Irish bag tax to other parts of the UK, the government-funded Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) found that a levy on plastic bags in Ireland only made matters worse.
The problem with this tax is that people around the world do the same things with plastic bags they get at retailers as you and I do. We resue them!
The Use of "Disposable" Plastic Bags Has Increased
After the Tax Was Implemented in Ireland
Now, this just doesn't make sense does it? Well it actually does make sense and is substantiated by import export data from Ireland. Ireland has no refineries that make the resin used to produce plastic bags, so it's easy to get the data on the use of plastic bags in the country by simply adding up the import/export data on plastic bags and plastic bag resin. The data is the data and here it is:
Imports of Bags and Sacks of Polyethylene into the Republic of Ireland
|
Year |
Total Tonnes |
|
1996 |
20,747 |
|
1997 |
20,543 |
|
1998 |
27,163 |
|
1999 |
27,261 |
|
2000 |
30,447 |
|
2001 |
29,846 |
|
2002 |
26,342 |
|
2003 |
24,108 |
|
2004 |
23,177 |
|
2005 |
27,777 |
|
2006 |
31,649 |
Here is what has happened in Ireland. Since the tax on plastic retail bags in Ireland, the use of disposable bags for trash can liners, lunch carriers, pooper scoopers, baby diaper disposal and many other things has increased significantly. But you might be wondering why the use of plastic bags and plastic bag resin actually increased?
Many retailers use bags made from High Density Polyethylene. The trash can liners, pooper scoopers and other bags that consumers now have to buy to replace these are made from low density polyethylene. These low density bags use around 3 times the amount resin that high density bags use, so the of resin to make plastic bags increased in Ireland.
So the reality of this tax is, consumers end up paying for it by having to buy other plastic bags and there is no positive environmental affect.
Studies show that 92% of household in the US reuse plastic bags.
Retailers in Ireland Initially Welcomed the Bag Tax Because They Figured They Would Save Money Because They Wouldn't Need to Buy Bags.
They Now Wish They Had Their Plastic Bags Back.
• The tax has led to an increase in shoplifting. Many consumers are simply walking out of stores with their arms or carts filled with unpaid products.
• The average retailer in Ireland losses 450 handheld shopping baskets each year since the tax was implemented. Consumers take the basket to their cars with the "intention" of returning it but the basket doesn't get returned.
So Kermit, and Retailers, it is easy to be Green. Do your part, use bags in your store that your customers will want to use again so they don't have to use another bag.