Carrier bag tax ‘will confuse shoppers’ as small retailers exempt

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) says its members have expressed “serious disappointment” that government plans to charge for carrier bags will ignore the advice of the industry and a key parliamentary committee.

Legislators plan to press ahead with plans to charge 5p for carrier bags to cut waste, litter and carbon emmissions, but the BRC described the scheme as an “overly complex system that will confuse shoppers”, and said it must be kept simple of it is to be effective.

Exemptions for small retailers and paper and biodegradable bags “will make it confusing for consumers as they will be asked to pay for a bag in one shop but not in the shop next door”. The BRC added that some of its SME retail members have made it clear that they do not want to be exempted.

Despite calls for the charge to apply to all single use carrier bags, the government has confirmed that the charge will apply to single use plastic carrier bags only.  In a statement, the BRC said: “This makes no environmental sense and an Environment Agency study found that single use plastic bags have the lowest environmental impact of any type of bag. The same study found that a paper bag has to be used at least three times to have less environmental impact than a single use plastic bag.”

A BRC spokesperson said: “A carrier bag charge is already working in Wales and Northern Ireland and will be introduced in Scotland in October and it makes no sense to do something different. Why not use the same scheme and keep it simple and effective?

“If we are to have regulation it needs to work for consumers, the environment and retailers. We are disappointed that the government has chosen not to listen to the Environment Audit Committee, environment groups and retailers. This is poor regulation that will cause confusion for customers and businesses.”