9 years ago, Steve Barclay came to my house and had a very good engagement prior to him being chosen or even elected as a MP. One of my passions then and still is – that ‘we’ should have an environmental Deposit Tax or Levy on Plastic/Bottles/Cans and Polystyrene products, – to be returned for most of their money back.
On 3 occasions I have tried to convince now MP Steve Barclay to support this initiative, which by the way has happened in many other countries.
Alas although not totally against the idea – his concerns are costs to the government!
Some will remember I wrote him a letter earlier this year and I got back a pretty poor reply.
One on my arguments for supporting another environmental ‘Levy’ – has been the 5p Levy (Not a tax) on Plastic Bags, this has been a fantastic success in reducing not only the amount used, but the amount that gets dumped into the sea and environment as a whole.
I said to MP Steve Barclay this Friday that the government actually makes money from the 5p Levy – He was unaware of this, his argument has always been it would cost the government to implement such an initiative – wrong – Because there is a VAT element to the ‘Levy’
I quote an ITV report from October 2016
Shoppers across the UK have now been paying 5p for a plastic bag for a year – but where does that money go? On October 5, 2015, England became the last part of the UK to introduce a 5p charge for carrier bags.
Not only has this resulted in 130 million less bags being used, the proceeds have also benefited many charities. After 1p of VAT is deducted from the 5p cost of a bag, this is how much supermarkets donate to charity:
- Asda and Morrisons donate the entire 4p
- After deducting “reasonable expenses” Tesco donates 3.6p
- Sainsbury’s says its bags are not designed for single use and cost more to make so donate 1p per bag
While the amounts donated to good causes differ, none of the supermarkets are making a profit from plastic bag sales.
The Government, however is, making £18 million in England in the last year.
An excellent article on the Governments own website – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/single-use-plastic-carrier-bags-why-were-introducing-the-charge/carrier-bags-why-theres-a-5p-charge
There are slightly differing mathematics involved in the breakup of the 5p ‘Levy’ however if you are a business employing more than 250 full time workers you have to charge for bags. Some of the money raised goes to administer the scheme.
Another very informative article is on The Independent website – Click Here
So if the 5p Plastic Bag Levy has been a success and the Government has made a shed full of money – Why can we not have exactly the same on Plastic/Bottles/Cans and Polystyrene products at say 10p a go – I’ll stick my neck on the block – you won’t find much of this rubbish in our land or seas after this Levy because people/public will want their money back – or our local friendly hard up person will collect it from anywhere they can find it.
It has been a success in many other countries – come on Steve Barclay after 9 years it is really time you changed your tune on this – I am not giving up…
The world as a whole is one big dumping ground more and more as population increases,
we can do something about it – but it will take our government to make this pledge.
Some of use are old enough to remember the deposit scheme on bottles – in my childhood it was 3d (old money) we children were very competitive but then didn’t find many around – I wonder why…..see above…
Deposit & Return Another Story
Germany have been doing this for years. They now have machines in every supermarket that read the labels on bottles or cans with laser and print out a coupon which you can either cash or use against purchases.
I am Roy Gerstner
I have been collecting and removing rubbish and litter
from all over the world, but more so in my home town
of Whittlesey.
This year I ‘celebrate’ having belonged to FDC’s Street Pride
Group for 10 years.
I have personally removed over 4 tons of Rubbish and Litter.
When I worked on the largest Super Tanker in the world, we stopped our ship to rescue and release a beautiful Leather Back Turtle from being entwined in Plastic Bags.
