Carrier bag charges

[annie]

Carrier bag charges: what new rules will mean for shoppers from October 5

Shoppers will want to start stocking up on carrier bags this month, as large retailers will start charging you 5p per bag from October 5.

However, the new rules may cause a headache for staff and shoppers as many items including raw meat, razor blades and flower bulbs are exempt.

Here's our handy guide to help you.

Which stores do the rules apply to?

Any business that sells or delivers goods. However, retailers with fewer than 250 members of full-time staff nationwide don’t have to charge unless they wish to do so.

Which types of bags are being charged for?

Any unused, plastic bags with handles which are 70 microns thick or less. Sealed packaging isn’t covered by the charge
Which items are exempt from the bag charge?

Uncooked fish and fish products Uncooked meat, poultry and their products

Unwrapped food for animal or human consumption e.g. chips or food sold in containers not secure enough to prevent leakage

Unwrapped loose seeds, flowers, bulbs, corns, rhizomes (roots, stems and shoots, such as ginger) or goods contaminated by soil

Unwrapped blades, including axes, knives, and knife and razor blades Prescription medicine Live aquatic creatures in water

Woven plastic bags

Goods in transport, such as at an airport or on a train, plane or ship

Items considered as sealed packaging for mail order and click-and-collect orders

Returnable multiple reuse bags (bags for life)

Used to give away free promotional material

Used for a service where there’s no sale of goods e.g. dry cleaning, shoe repairs N.B. If even one non-exempt item is placed in the bag, cashiers must charge 5p.

Who will benefit from the extra money raised from 5p bag sales?

Retailers are expected to donate all proceeds from carrier bag sales to good causes. The biggest donations will be generated by the supermarkets. In Scotland and Wales, Boots has been giving money from charges to Macmillan Cancer Support. From October, it will give all UK proceeds to Children in Need.

Morrisons will give money to the Sue Ryder hospices and Superdrug is donating the money to support Marie Curie Cancer Care.

However, the government is set to make £19m a year from the VAT attached to the sales of bags.

How will the bag charge impact the environment?
Since the scheme was launched in Wales in 2011, the number of plastic bags given away by shops has fallen by 71%. In Scotland, the number of bags handed out by supermarket dropped by 147 million.

Last year British supermarkets gave out 8.5 billion plastic bags, an increase of 200 million on the previous year. The new 5p charge should hopefully reduce the number of plastic bags, which will be beneficial for the environment.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/ne ... October_5/

[JaneJ]

I have been hoarding mine ready!!!

[maureenho]

tha22222