The introduction of a 5p charge for plastic bags in England has been blamed for a packaging firm going into administration.
Nelson Packaging's factory in Lancashire, which opened in 1975, has closed its doors, with managing director Michael Flynn blaming the "English bag legislation and corresponding impact on customer and retailer demand", along with "aggressive overseas competition".
The charge for bags was introduced in England last October, after it was launched in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland back in 2011. One worker commented that they thought the legislation had a "slight but not a massive impact" on the business, which was taken over by a Chesire-based packaging firm Intelipac three years ago. They had been operating in the recycled LDPE (polyethylene) re-usable carrier bags sector.
Flynn said: "We had thought we were ready for the bag tax but it has been far, far more challenging than we expected. We wanted to bring the manufacturing back to Britain and we wanted to generate support of British retailers to jump on board with that.''
“While the Co-op, Asda and Pets at Home did that, for many others it is still all about price, and I’m afraid we just couldn’t compete with overseas imports."
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