New laws have been proposed which would see Londoners’ have to pay 10p for every plastic bag that they use. The charge has been proposed to try and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill sites and, if accepted, is expected to pave the way for a total ban on carrier bags in the near future.

The proposed bill will go in front of MPs in November and will cover 33 of London’s boroughs. If the number of plastic bags were reduced by a quarter, it would eliminate over 58,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year - that’s the squivalent of taking 18,000 cars off the road and shows how a simple change may have immense effects.

It is proposed that the charge would apply across the whole of London and the money paid by consumers woudl go towards recycling facilities. The charge comes on the back of a similar charge in Ireland and similar proposals in cities such as San Francisco.

Ireland’s introduced a 15 cent tax in 2002 on plastic bags. Within months, plastic bag usage fell by 90% and millions of Euros were raised and used for in various environmental projects. In early 2007, the charge was raised to 22 cents. Overall, the scheme has been deemed successful with the average shopper now just using 21 bags a year as opposed to a previous figure of 328.

In the UK, around 13 billion plastic bags are used each year. Cutting this amount would have significant impacts on the environment - not just through the reduction of CO2 emissions, but also through the funding received from the charges. The Local Government Association esimates that UK councils could see a £3 billion bill for sending rubbish to landfill over the next four years; In 2010, councils may face a fine of up to £150 for every tonne of rubbish they send to landfill over their given limit - so any ways that will reduce the amount of rubbish households produce will be welcomed with open arms by most councils.

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