Ireland has been praised internationally for its pioneering levy on plastic shopping bags, introduced in 2002. But subsequent studies have confirmed what its critics said at the time: paper bags "have even worse environmental impacts".
That quotation is from a 2005 "extended impact assessment" commissioned by the Scottish government, and it echoes studies undertaken in South Africa and France.
The Scottish life-cycle analysis, detailing "cradle-to-grave" effects, showed that taxing paper as well as plastic bags would reduce the consumption of water, emissions of greenhouse gases, eutrophication (too many nutrients consuming oxygen) of rivers and lakes, atmospheric acidification, and the formation of ground-level ozone. Paper bags cause more damage to the environment in these categories than plastic.
That's because paper requires valuable forestry resources. The end product is used for 20 minutes then finishes up largely in our landfills producing methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
The then-environment minister Noel Dempsey's plastic bag tax inspired other countries to adopt similar measures. Ireland averaged 328 bags per person per year in 2001. After the levy, that dropped to 21. The levy also raised 140m for an environment fund. Set originally at 15c, the charge was raised to 22c in mid-2007, by which time yearly bag usage had crept back up to 33 per person.
Advertisement
The increased levy had only limited success, in spite of decreased consumer spending on bags. Under new legislation promised shortly, the price of a plastic bag will be unlinked from the cost-of-living index, and will rise to 44c.
Irish industry sources say there is "too much fear" for anyone to release figures on the impact of the switch from plastic to paper bags.
They suggest that as a result of the levy, the "fashion trade" - Dunnes and Pennys being by far the biggest consumers - are using 20%-30% fewer bags, but they are using paper ones now.
On January 1, Washington, DC put a tax on all single-use carrier bags; South Africa, Zanzibar, Scandinavia and Uganda have introduced similar initiatives. These levies include paper bags.
Yet a 2008 analysis of the increase in the Irish plastic bag levy specifically excluded an extension to paper from the terms of reference. The Irish government's international review of waste management policy last year only suggested extending levies to "razors and cutlery". As one international review suggested, a "broader concept of sustainability would have led to more cautions about paper bag usage".
Advertisement
The value of environmental levies is their ability to change consumer behaviour and thinking. Who now in Ireland would return to the days of unlimited plastic shopping bags? But the throwaway culture behind single-use bags remains, despite the growing popularity of reusable ones. Some systems allow for credits at supermarket checkouts for customers with such reusable bags.
Promoting a paper bag levy - as my organisation, Friends of the Irish Environment has been doing - is easy to ridicule. The environment minister has not responded warmly. However, our call for a study has been picked up by the American media.
A consultation phase to reassess the plastic bag levy would make sense given that the government must pass new legislation anyway to increase the fees.
It would allow consideration of rebating a small portion of the tax to the 30,000 hard-pressed retailers who administer the scheme for the Revenue Commissioners, as the Washington, DC levy does. This would reflect the extra time required to pack reusable bags, a not insignificant cost according to a recent Australian study.
And should the distribution of the levy be re-examined? In Washington, the fund specifically goes to cleaning up the local river. In the UK, Alistair Darling, the chancellor, is committed to ensuring that all of any funds raised go to charities. Core funding for Ireland's non-governmental organisations is the equivalent to less than 2% of the levy collected.
Advertisement
Using the proceeds of bag levies to help smaller retailers and volunteers could help all of us work towards a greener, more resourceful Ireland.
Tony Lowes is a director of Friends of the Irish Environment. friendsoftheirishenvironment.net