24 January 2007
Supermarkets told to come clean about packaging
Cahal Milmo and Andy McSmith
Pressure mounted yesterday on Britain's supermarkets and retailers to reduce packaging drastically as political support intensified for The Independent's anti-waste campaign. Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, challenged leading stores to produce a detailed breakdown of how they contribute to the 4.6 million tonnes of household waste generated every year by packaging. Retailers are to be asked whether they would back a tax on plastic bags - similar to the one which has slashed carrier bag use in Ireland - and to reveal what proportion of their fresh produce is wrapped in plastic or placed on trays...
Showing posts with label plastax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plastax. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Another Opinion
This opinion piece argues that a plastax won't work for business, consumers or the environment. I have to say, it makes a good point about the increase in plastic use in Ireland, where, despite the fewer lightweight bags used since the plastax, there has been an increase in heavier bag use which use more resin. I have doubts about some of his statistics, and he doesn't take into account the CO2 emmisions and fossil fuel use of recycling vs. reusing. He puts a lot of faith in "take-back" (retailer based recycling) programs:
Jan 19, 2007
Taxing plastic shopping bags is not the answer
Serge Lavoie, Toronto Star, Toronto, Canada
Plastic shopping bags must not become the whipping boy for the garbage woesof the City of Toronto. In his drive to divert 70 per cent of Toronto'ssolid waste from landfill by 2010, the new chair of Toronto's public worksand infrastructure committee has declared war on plastic grocery bags. Hehas stated his intention to tax them out of existence.War it may be, but it's a phony war and the loser will be consumers,retailers, the City of Toronto and even the environment....
Jan 19, 2007
Taxing plastic shopping bags is not the answer
Serge Lavoie, Toronto Star, Toronto, Canada
Plastic shopping bags must not become the whipping boy for the garbage woesof the City of Toronto. In his drive to divert 70 per cent of Toronto'ssolid waste from landfill by 2010, the new chair of Toronto's public worksand infrastructure committee has declared war on plastic grocery bags. Hehas stated his intention to tax them out of existence.War it may be, but it's a phony war and the loser will be consumers,retailers, the City of Toronto and even the environment....
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Aussie Green Party on Levy
16 January 2007
Government plays catch up on plastic bags
Larissa Waters, Queensland, Australia
The Greens welcomed today’s national release of a Regulatory Impact Statement on options to reduce plastic shopping bags, an issue which the Greens have been campaigning on for years.
Government plays catch up on plastic bags
Larissa Waters, Queensland, Australia
The Greens welcomed today’s national release of a Regulatory Impact Statement on options to reduce plastic shopping bags, an issue which the Greens have been campaigning on for years.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Ban all plastic bags
Ian Kiernan is calling for a total ban on plastic bags in Australia:
1/9/07
Ban all plastic bags Says Clean Up Australia Chairman
Border Mail, Wodonga, Victoria, Australia
THE failure of a levy to curb use of plastic bags in Ireland confirms a complete ban is necessary, the founder of the Clean Up Australia movement says.
Clean Up Australia chairman Ian Kiernan said yesterday that privately commissioned polling showed Australians would support such a ban...
1/9/07
Ban all plastic bags Says Clean Up Australia Chairman
Border Mail, Wodonga, Victoria, Australia
THE failure of a levy to curb use of plastic bags in Ireland confirms a complete ban is necessary, the founder of the Clean Up Australia movement says.
Clean Up Australia chairman Ian Kiernan said yesterday that privately commissioned polling showed Australians would support such a ban...
Plastic bag levy failing
The success of the Irish plastax is dimming. Bag use is back up:
January 8, 2007
Plastic bag levy failing
Sunanda Creagh
IRELAND'S levy on plastic bags, once heralded as a market solution to an environmental problem, has failed to curb the country's plastic addiction, prompting calls from Australian environment groups for a total ban here.
The number of bags used in Ireland dropped to 85 million in a year after the levy was introduced in 2002, but was back up to 115 million in 2005 and has risen steadily since.
At the end of this month, the Irish Government will increase the levy by seven Euro cents (12 cents) from 15 Euro cents...
January 8, 2007
Plastic bag levy failing
Sunanda Creagh
IRELAND'S levy on plastic bags, once heralded as a market solution to an environmental problem, has failed to curb the country's plastic addiction, prompting calls from Australian environment groups for a total ban here.
The number of bags used in Ireland dropped to 85 million in a year after the levy was introduced in 2002, but was back up to 115 million in 2005 and has risen steadily since.
At the end of this month, the Irish Government will increase the levy by seven Euro cents (12 cents) from 15 Euro cents...
Saving Money Saving the Environment
January 06, 2007
Saving Money and Saving the Environment
WAGblog, Pamela Spiro Wagner
Say it costs the chemical companies $1-$2 to produce 500 grocery bags, which I hate to say but that may be all it takes. Still, think how many grocery bags a large store uses, at least millions a year. Multiply that by the number of stores there are that use plastic bags, Walmart and all such stores included, and you can see why stopping the use of them could save quite a bit of oil as well as reduce a lot of landfill and unsightly litter.
Saving Money and Saving the Environment
WAGblog, Pamela Spiro Wagner
Say it costs the chemical companies $1-$2 to produce 500 grocery bags, which I hate to say but that may be all it takes. Still, think how many grocery bags a large store uses, at least millions a year. Multiply that by the number of stores there are that use plastic bags, Walmart and all such stores included, and you can see why stopping the use of them could save quite a bit of oil as well as reduce a lot of landfill and unsightly litter.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Recycling Programs Failing in Greece
Greece's citizens resisted a plastax in 2005, but they are dealing with some big trash problems now:
12/23/06
Trash piles up as recycling fails
Kathimerini, Athens, Greece
The amount of rubbish produced per person in Greece has increased 43 percent to 440 kilos per year since 1995 with packaging waste – from food and consumer items – adding to household garbage, experts said yesterday. Most of the household rubbish ends up in any one of the 1,200 legal and illegal landfills that can be found across Greece...
12/23/06
Trash piles up as recycling fails
Kathimerini, Athens, Greece
The amount of rubbish produced per person in Greece has increased 43 percent to 440 kilos per year since 1995 with packaging waste – from food and consumer items – adding to household garbage, experts said yesterday. Most of the household rubbish ends up in any one of the 1,200 legal and illegal landfills that can be found across Greece...
Friday, December 29, 2006
Mountains of Christmas Rubbish
How was Christmas for you? Rubbish
Alice Miles, The Times, London, UK
Householders must pay for their waste
On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me . . . three bin-liners, two packing cases and the bubblewrap from the plastic Christmas tree....
Alice Miles, The Times, London, UK
Householders must pay for their waste
On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me . . . three bin-liners, two packing cases and the bubblewrap from the plastic Christmas tree....
Pay Per Bag at Farmers Market
A vendor at a Vancouver Farmers Market is charging a per-bag fee to encourage the use of reusables:
July 2006
The Plas Tax: A Tax with an Environmental Conscience
By Vicki Baker, Coquitlam Farmers Market (originally published in "The Cream of the Crop", CFMS newsletter June 4, 2006)
You may have noticed that one of our vendors is now charging a small fee for plastic bags. This vendor was motivated by a similar initiative by the Government of Ireland which in 2002, began charging consumers a 15 cent levy on each plastic bag used at the checkout counter: the "Plas Tax", as it's come to be known...
July 2006
The Plas Tax: A Tax with an Environmental Conscience
By Vicki Baker, Coquitlam Farmers Market (originally published in "The Cream of the Crop", CFMS newsletter June 4, 2006)
You may have noticed that one of our vendors is now charging a small fee for plastic bags. This vendor was motivated by a similar initiative by the Government of Ireland which in 2002, began charging consumers a 15 cent levy on each plastic bag used at the checkout counter: the "Plas Tax", as it's come to be known...
Pigouvian Taxes
The Tax Foundation, a "nonpartisan" tax research group, don't like the plastax, saying "Policymakers have a myriad of other tools at their disposal for dealing with environmental issues". They don't like that plastaxes veer from the original purpose of the tax system, to generate revenue for government operations. I guess the free market is supposed to solve all. Ha.
December 15, 2006
Cleaning up the Environment Without Polluting the Tax Code
by Alicia Hansen, Tax Foundation Blog, Washington DC
There has been much talk lately of Pigouvian taxes, or taxes imposed on certain goods to counteract or prevent the damage to society caused by production or consumption of those goods. Pigouvian taxes are frequently advocated as a solution to environmental problems.
An example is the PlasTax, a tax imposed on plastic bags to reduce consumption and thereby prevent environmental damage caused by the manufacture and disposal of the bags....
December 15, 2006
Cleaning up the Environment Without Polluting the Tax Code
by Alicia Hansen, Tax Foundation Blog, Washington DC
There has been much talk lately of Pigouvian taxes, or taxes imposed on certain goods to counteract or prevent the damage to society caused by production or consumption of those goods. Pigouvian taxes are frequently advocated as a solution to environmental problems.
An example is the PlasTax, a tax imposed on plastic bags to reduce consumption and thereby prevent environmental damage caused by the manufacture and disposal of the bags....
25 million less bags in Malta
17 December 2006
With 25 million less plastic bags, eco-taxation makes an impact
James Debono, Malta Today, San Gwann, Malta
The eco-tax has had a positive impact on the environment. In two years, the number of plastic bags has been reduced by 25 million. And yet the environmental tax has failed to encourage the use of biodegradable plastic bags, the only bags which can be turned into compost, and which remain largely absent from Malta’s shopping shelves...
With 25 million less plastic bags, eco-taxation makes an impact
James Debono, Malta Today, San Gwann, Malta
The eco-tax has had a positive impact on the environment. In two years, the number of plastic bags has been reduced by 25 million. And yet the environmental tax has failed to encourage the use of biodegradable plastic bags, the only bags which can be turned into compost, and which remain largely absent from Malta’s shopping shelves...
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Tasmanian Bag Levy: Enviros vs. Liberals
Liberals slam the door on plastic bag solution
24 November 2006
http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=19603
Paula Wriedt, Tasmania, Australia
Tasmania led the charge today on phasing out single use plastic bags, despite a lack of support from the Federal Liberal Government to implement a national levy.
Environment Ministers from around Australia and New Zealand met in Christchurch, New Zealand, for the fourteenth Environmental Protection and Heritage Council Meeting.
Tasmanian Minister for the Environment, Paula Wriedt, said that a national levy provided the easiest and simplest way to achieve a reduction in plastic bag use and the desired environmental outcomes...
24 November 2006
http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=19603
Paula Wriedt, Tasmania, Australia
Tasmania led the charge today on phasing out single use plastic bags, despite a lack of support from the Federal Liberal Government to implement a national levy.
Environment Ministers from around Australia and New Zealand met in Christchurch, New Zealand, for the fourteenth Environmental Protection and Heritage Council Meeting.
Tasmanian Minister for the Environment, Paula Wriedt, said that a national levy provided the easiest and simplest way to achieve a reduction in plastic bag use and the desired environmental outcomes...
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Irish bag tax hailed success
The Plastax really works. We need one in the US:
Irish bag tax hailed success
20 August, 2002,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2205419.stm
BBC News
Stores including Tesco have welcomed the tax.
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...
Irish bag tax hailed success
20 August, 2002,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2205419.stm
BBC News
Stores including Tesco have welcomed the tax.
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...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
