Since a plastic bag tax has been implemented in the UK I have found a severe shortage of bags in my house. Before the tax I had too many and I don’t have enough for glorious tasks such as cleaning the cat tray!

Apparrantly we used to use nearly 250 plastic bags per person which I find hard to believe but then again it is just an average. In the countries where a plastic bag tax has been introduced usage has fallen as people look for alternatives.

Every time I go to the supermarket now I need to grab as many possible to last until my next trip. I can hardly use an eco friendly re useable bag for collecting rubbish in.

I have noticed a lot more bio degradable bags being used and this needs to be encouraged. The eco friendly green bags made of re-usable paper or hemp bags are also good but bulky. A biodegradable bag that looks the same and has the usability as the current plastic bag is the way to go. I wonder whether any one will take forward a compostable bag with a percentage of plastic to make it strong enough and then as technology develops to make it cheaper and mass produced they can phase out the plastic to make it one hundred percent eco friendly.

Conventional paper bags mainly used in the USA use significant amounts of energy to be produced and that doesn’t include the destruction of the rain forests for the original wood. I have also recently read that paper that has been re-cycled and used in food packaging has a higher percentage of chemicals than non recycled – its all baffling even to a green expert like myself!

One thing is certain and that is that plastic bags must be phased out as they can take one thousand years to decompose and pollute soil and rivers in countries all over the world. A menace to modern society is an understatement. Wildlife is also effected when they mistakenly eat them as food especially when found floating in the seas and in wooded areas. They are also horrible to look at when dumped on the streets by unsavory people.

Green funds should be made available to research into this as we may be able to make a new industry out of this and to create green jobs. Plastic bags are often given away free but the cost is absorbed into the price you pay for the goods and hence it is better we look for ways to reduce our dependency on this for the benefit of everyone involved.

The benefits of moving away from plastic bags would be reduced if people just used refuse sacks but I wouldn\’t use them instead of a plastic bag as they are much more expensive and usually a lot bigger than what you need them for.

In Northern Ireland they are discussing a fifteen pence tax which is a bit high in my view but then again people will continue to use them unless they are forced not to. In Wales they are introducing a five pence tax from October 1st 2011 and hence tax is still popular in some countries but the French have voted against a tax.

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Category: Society
Keywords: tax,ethical,plastic,french,wales,paper,landfill,wildlife,industry,bags,biodegradable,compostable,