The government has made a move to double the price of plastic bags from 5p to 10p in all retail shops in England by 2021.
In 2015, the government first introduced a 5p charge on plastics bags. Since then, approximately 15 million bags have come out of circulation. A number like this has had a major positive effect on the environment.
The environmental crisis is still very real and putting prices on plastic bags is only the beginning. It takes 10-15 years for a plastic bag to decompose, this can leave plastic floating in the ocean for animals to choke on.
The government is hoping that introducing this is going to set an example to other countries to tackle the environmental crisis.
Even with the prices in place, the UK still produces up to 800,000 tonnes of plastic each year. This finds its way into the oceanwhere it will remain for a long time. Plastic pollution is a rising problem in today’s society.
Recycling plastic is always an option to help the crisis, however, plastic can only be recycled a certain amount of time and the recycling systems around the world just simply cant keep up with the amount of plastic production there is. Furthermore, way too much plastic is being produced for the world to cope.
By introducing prices on plastic, this will encourage more people to reuse old bags which overtime, could be vital to slowly ending plastic pollution.
