Wales managed, Scotland managed, but it remains to be seen whether or not the English are able to cope with having to pay 5p for plastic bags when out shopping, as charges are introduced today.
Plastic Bag Chaos Looms predicts the Daily Mail – which has, ironically, been lobbying for charges since 2008 – as some of the exemptions to the rules are deemed “too confusing” for shoppers. (If by confusing you mean relatively straightforward with a few notable exemptions.) Companies with under 250 employees need not charge and some items, such as uncooked chicken, flowers, live goldfish, axeheads and prescription medication (all of which could combine to make quite the Saturday night) are exempt from the charging, except whenever these goods are purchased with non-exempt items. Granted, the regulations require a smidge more mental exertion that their Welsh and Scottish counterparts, but surely this nation of shopkeepers can manage to forebear these stressful changes with the same meek acceptance they deploy for all other regulations imposed from above?
Scenes as Asda customer tries to escape without paying for his #plasticbags pic.twitter.com/e47oKIasQG
— General Boles (@GeneralBoles) October 5, 2015
Well, apparently not. Satirical signs of rebellion are already emerging on social media, although the photograph of the gent being wrestled to the ground in an Asda car park has sadly yet to be substantiated. Though I have faith that the English can cope intellectually with the plastic bagpocalypse, whether some can cope emotionally is another matter altogether. “The bullying b******s are at it again,” wrote one user below the Northampton Chronicle’s coverage of the story, “I will NEVER pay for a plastic bag.”
This man is so angry about #plasticbags, he's willing to ghost shop to cause everyone inconvenience pic.twitter.com/2TkQDyqNii
— Felicity Morse (@FelicityMorse) October 5, 2015
A relief, then, that most people reportedly support the introduction of charging. Some are expressing excitement at the fact that that plastic bag full of other plastic bags under their sink will finally come to good use, with others recognising that the environmental benefits outweigh the petty inconveniences they may suffer as a result of the new legislation. Most seem agreed that it’s high time that plastic bags, along with the 20th century relics of dog poo and flashers, were consigned to the past. We have seen enough filthy canals, blocked drains, and festooned trees and hedgerows to know that their impact on England’s green and pleasant land is aesthetically and environmentally damaging. £8.5bn were distributed last year: that’s more than 23m a day.
As in all matters, the English should look to the Welsh for moral and spiritual inspiration. Having grown up in an area of north Wales renowned for its natural beauty, I cannot overstate the difference a ban on plastic bags has made to the surrounding countryside. Since 2011, plastic bag use in Wales has dropped by 78%, and the results of that are plain to see. Tesco has used the tax to support the conservation charity the RSPB, Keep Wales Tidy, and Keep Scotland Beautiful. M&S has favoured a number of environmental charities including the Marine Conservation Society (90% of all sea birds in the North Sea have been found with plastic in their stomachs)
Something for the legislation refuseniks to consider, before they attempt to flee the checkout, perhaps? Who knows, the measures could be so successful that they will roll out charges out across the board, even for the smaller stores. Change is hard, but I promise, England: it will be OK.
