The plans for a 5p Green Tax on carrier bags comes into force in England in October 2015, and will include the biodegradable carrier bags. The reason for this has been given that biodegradable bags will contaminate the plastics recycling process and potentially cause confusion for shoppers.
Small shops will avoid the tax after calls by the Environment Audit Committee to include all retailers was rejected by the Government.
This is a move which has been frowned upon by the Committee, who warn that it will leave England trailing further behind Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all of whom currently implement, or are to implement, a charge on all carrier bags.
MPs from the three main parties and more have criticised the decision, reasoning that the avoidance of the smaller retailers limits the benefits of such a charge on the environment.
Joan Walley, Labour MP and chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, said: "The 5p charge is the right solution - it will reduce litter, cut carbon emissions and reduce waste. Despite our Committee's recommendations, the Government has decided not to apply the charge across the board, but to go ahead with the proposed exemptions."
She continued: "That risks diluting the benefits of the charge. The decision to only include larger retailers is particularly short-sighted and ignores calls from all of the main small retailer organisations to be included in the scheme."
The scheme will exempt small retailers, meaning retailers with less than 250 staff.
"Makes no sense"
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) have admitted "serious disappointment" with the decision to exempt the smaller businesses.
The BRC have stated, "This makes no environmental sense and an Environmental Agency study found that single use carrier bags have the lowest environmental impact of any type of bag."
The BRC are not against the charge, however. "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." This is in response to the English version of the charge, and the data collected from Wales, where carrier bag use has dropped 75% since the levy was enforced.
They concluded: "This is poor regulation that will cause confusion for customers and businesses."
