Shops asked for views on plastic bag ban

Friday 21 August 2020

Retailers are being asked for their views on how to implement the decision to ban single-use plastic bags in local shops.

Politicians backed the move following their commitment to carbon neutrality for the island by the 2030.

Legislation will be drafted by February next year with a six-month implementation period.

The ban applies to single-use plastic and paper bags, while the new law also stipulates that a minimum price should be set for bags for life to discourage the purchase of plastic bags altogether.

The Government is now asking retailers to complete an online questionnaire before 23 September about how they think the law should work, how the success of the change should be measured, the communication tools they will find useful, and the time they will need to adapt to the changes.

Pictured: The States Assembly has decided to ban single-use plastic bags in shops in Jersey

Infrastructure Minister Deputy Kevin Lewis said that the overall aim of the ban and minimum price was "to reduce Jersey’s waste and move behaviour away from single-use, as this supports Jersey’s commitment to working together to address the climate emergency.

"By working with the retail industry, I hope that we can make this a success and help our island be a more sustainable place to live and work," he added.

A report written and published in April this year by Oxera told the Government that to achieve its goal of carbon neutrality, it would be necessary to:

• Make sure that all domestic and commercial properties use electric heating;
• ensure that every home is upgraded to the latest insulation standards;
• raise fuel taxes to discourage Islanders from buying petrol and diesel vehicles;
• ban the registration of new petrol and diesel vehicles;
• encourage Islanders to buy electric vehicles through a grant and/or a "scrappage" payment to the owners of fossil-fuel-burning vehicles;
• and help turn all diesel vehicles to biodiesel, such as “hydrotreated” vegetable oil.

It continues to say that it will cost roughly £600m. 

This week, Guernsey has approved plans to, amongst other things, prevent the sale and importation of all diesel and petrol vehicles within the next 15 years in order to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Pictured: Guernsey plan to stop the sale and importation of petrol and diesel cars in the next 15 years