The plastic bag tax is due to increase in Ireland and is planned to be 40p per bag.  When the plastic bag tax was introduced a few years ago in the Republic of Ireland, I really thought this would be adopted in England very quickly.  Now, Ireland plans to double this tax to further deter shoppers from using plastic bags.  Yet still not one political party in Britain has picked up on this as a possible double whammy to take the environmental high ground and to solve all the budget cut issues and revenue raising in one hit.

The time is right for a plastic bag tax, even with all the environmental and climate change awareness that has been so high profile over recent months, I still see the majority of supermarket shoppers indulging in multiple plastic bags week in week out, while supermarket staff continue to try and ram plastic bags down your thoat.  As a serial fabric shopping bag fiend, I have genuinly had numerous occasions with supermarket checkout staff where I have had to almost argue I don’t need bags because I have my own shopping bags.

So the time is right for a plastic bag tax and I welcome it.  We need to raise revenue for the country, and a plastic bag tax is trivial and gives the individual a choice.  Those prefering to avoid the tax, can easily use their own shopping bags and can sleep easy at night knowing that they are saving the planet.

Maybe administering and implementing the system is less than simple.  For instance, self service checkouts are commonplace in supermarkets nowadays, but lessons can surely be learnt from the Ireland model.