Lawther calls for Minister to introduce plastic bag levy

Alliance Sustainability Spokesperson Cllr Alan Lawther has called on Environment Minister Edwin Poots to introduce a levy on plastic bags. His call comes following news that 189 million single-usage bags were handed out in shops in Northern Ireland in the past year. This statistic from the British Retail Consortium shows a 9% drop from the previous year but Alan Lawther said it’s still important that a plastic bag levy is introduced to encourage more people to re-use bags.

Cllr Alan Lawther said: “While this reduction in the number of bags handed out is positive we still need to see the introduction of a levy on plastic bags.

“Northern Ireland could become a leader in environmental protection and we need to see measures like a levy on bags being introduced to help us do that.

“I call on the Minister to create a levy as soon as possible to help encourage even more people to re-use plastic bags. Such a measure would also help raise money which could be put back into environmental projects.

“We also need to see the creation of a Green New Deal for Northern Ireland and money from any bag levy could help boost environmental projects as part of this type of green economy strategy. Introducing a levy would be simple enough to do and would make a real difference in helping increase sustainability in Northern Ireland.”

ENDS