Single Use Carrier Bags Charges (England) (Amendment) Order 2021.

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Monday 19th April 2021 Grand Committee

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

I also welcome this statutory instrument and the regulations before us today and congratulate my noble friend on introducing them so lucidly. I declare my interest as the chair of the Proof of Age Standards Scheme, through which I work closely with the Association of Convenience Stores.

What is curious is that plastic bags are a relatively recent phenomenon. While it may seem very quaint now, I remember that when I went shopping as a youngster with my mother, she always had material or cloth bags, and several of them. I am not quite sure how we disposed of that habit as easily and quickly as we did to embrace this relatively new culture of plastic bags.

I would like to hear more from my noble friend about how the Government intend to incentivise non-use. That is the problem—we can charge for plastic bags as much as we like but, if they are there, we will continue to use them. I do not think brown paper bags are an alternative because when they are wet, as I have found, the produce just slips out of your hands and ends up on the floor. It will be interesting to see how we can explore more positive alternatives.

While I welcome the order, it is some considerable time since the consultation, to which my noble friend referred, concluded on 22 February 2019. I wonder why it taken quite this long to table the amendment order before us today.

I want to press my noble friend on the start date when the regulations will come into effect. Can I assume that the start date is confirmed as 30 April? If that is the case, it does not give businesses very long to introduce the new provisions of the order.

Having said that, I welcome the fact that the Government are going to be sending less to landfill overall and that we will be seeking to recycle more. It is interesting that Denmark has a very good record on reducing single-use plastics and plastics overall. While it was very quick to incinerate and it did so effectively, it is now going away from incineration towards more recycling. We should pause to recognise just how effective many of the recycling schemes by our councils have been, and we should all encourage those which perhaps do not have such a good record to recycle more. However, it is good that my noble friend expressly stated the implications and consequences of the order before us for the circular economy.

I want to press my noble friend on how the Government will prepare customers for the changes, in the sense that it will no longer be a voluntary charge in smaller stores but will be compulsory. I am sure we are all only too aware of the somewhat unwarranted and potentially aggressive responses that have been seen from certain customers going into stores of all sizes—large and small stores—who fail to wear a mask when asked by those working in the stores for what reason, if they are not exempt, they are not prepared to wear a mask. It is important that we understand precisely how the Government will prepare not just businesses but customers, who are going to be the end users, that they will have to pay these charges now.

Otherwise it is fair to say that businesses are embracing the order. The sector has widely adopted voluntary charging before now, and certainly the Association of Convenience Stores welcomes the exemption from reporting requirements for small businesses.

With those few remarks, with the precise request that I have made that we look to incentivise non-plastic bag use and the use of other materials, having pressed my noble friend on specifically what the Government are doing to encourage those entering small stores to be aware of the new provisions and, lastly, having asked to understand precisely when the order will take effect, I welcome the order.