Planet Earth's new nemesis?

British shoppers get though eight billion a year, but elsewhere the humble plastic bag has become a menace, with one country even banning them outright. Could the UK follow suit? Supermarket shopping in Ireland is much the same as anywhere in Europe, or indeed the rest of the world. But one element British shoppers would find distinctly foreign is the need to pay for plastic bags at the checkout. Since the beginning of March, supermarkets have been forced to charge shoppers a 15c (9p) tax on each new plastic bag. The idea was introduced as an attempt to curb the litter problem created by so many bags. And anecdotally, at least, it seems to be working. Within a couple of months, shoppers have switched to re-using carrier bags. Customers now routinely turn up "pre-armed" with a clutch of polythene and one of the biggest chains, Superquinn, says the number of bags it distributes has dropped by 97.5%. Now that sounds like something to learn from, right? But no one has. Not one country has followed through on introducing a similar tax. Not one. Britain talks about it every so often (This article appeared on the BBC site on 8th May, 2002!). Scotland discusses it too. India and Bangladesh claim to have banned plastic bags (but hello, I live here and see plastic litter everywhere I look). And the biggest consumer of plastic bags in the world – the USA – continues to pretend that there is no problem at all. Stupid. When there are elegant and affordable options. See http://www.badlani.com/bags/