Carrier bag price hike

ENVIRONMENT Minister, Edwin Poots, has announced that the Carrier Bag Levy charge in the North will increase five times from 5p to 25p from next April.

The Minister made the announcement during an Oral Statement to the Assembly on the North’s first overarching Environment Strategy.

This means that, from April 1, 2022, the price of a carrier bag will be five times more expensive than previously.

In addition to the rise in the Levy, Mr Poots also announced an extension to the existing pricing threshold, which will see all bags priced at £5 or less subject to the levy, irrespective of the material they are made from.

The minister said,“Whilst the existing Carrier Bag Levy has been successful in already removing over 1.7 billion bags from circulation, I am aware that a significant number of retailers in NI are selling large volumes of heavy duty bags at a cost of 20p or more each.

“These are now flooding the market and are not being reused, with harmful environmental consequences. This announcement today will go some way towards making Northern Ireland a cleaner and more pleasant place in which to live, by ensuring that proceeds from the Levy are re-invested in supporting the wider NI environmental sector.

“By continuing to work together we can help meet the New Decade, New Approach commitment on eliminating plastic pollution, this also underpins the draft Green Growth Strategy for Northern Ireland, which I recently launched on behalf of the NI Executive.”

Mr Poots added, “It is unacceptable that far too much plastic ends up as pollution in our environment or waste in our landfills. My Department will continue to work hard on the issue of the circular economy, eliminating plastic pollution and tackling throwaway culture. With over five trillion single use plastic bags used worldwide every year and plastic waste set to quadruple by 2050, I would encourage everyone to play their part locally and re-use bags whenever they can.”