Success of the Irish plastic bag tax

Green taxes are frequently criticised for being ineffective in changing behaviour, expensive to operate, inequitable across communities and sometimes a combination of all three. But the tax levied on plastic bags in Ireland five years ago appears to be one of the more enlightened public policy initiatives of recent times. This New York Times feature visits the emerald isle and finds strong public support for the measure and a change in attitudes to piling up the plastic bags when we get to the end of the check-out queue.

‘In 2002, Ireland passed a tax on plastic bags; customers who want them must now pay 33 cents per bag at the register. There was an advertising awareness campaign. And then something happened that was bigger than the sum of these parts. Within weeks, plastic bag use dropped 94 percent. Within a year, nearly everyone had bought reusable cloth bags, keeping them in offices and in the backs of cars. Plastic bags were not outlawed, but carrying them became socially unacceptable — on a par with wearing a fur coat or not cleaning up after one’s dog.’

The rest of the article can be found here