Plastic Carrier Bags

HC Deb 27 May 2004 vol 421 cc1726-7W

John Mann

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the merits of a tax on disposable plastic carrier bags. [175934]

John Healey

The Government currently have no plans to introduce a tax on plastic bags. In the UK plastic bags comprise less than 1 per cent. of the waste stream. Hence a tax on plastic bags, on its own, would be unlikely to have any significant impacts on volumes of waste. Further, the Government have a range of measures in place to tackle the problem of waste, including the landfill tax which goes some way to maintaining the principle that the polluter pays by internalising the cost of the damage to the environment caused by landfill and encouraging recycling.

An assessment of the Irish tax on plastic bags has been completed and I have placed a copy in the Library of the House.