Michelle: Ireland... going greener

On March 4, 2002 the Republic of Ireland introduced a 15 cent charge on every plastic shopping bag used from stores. According to Ireland's Environment Minister, this led to people cutting down on plastic bags by 95% and using reusable bags. The money gathered by the charge was used to raise money for environmental initiatives. This was a huge suprise to some of us visiting from Philly. We are used to going to large supermarkets and having the cashier bag our groceries for us in either paper or plastic bags.

As of July 1, 2007, the charge has now been increased to 22 cents. The number of bags used by shoppers fell to as low as 21 per head each year, compared to 328 before the tax. The number 21 increased to 30 in 2006, prompting the tax rise.

Pro: Ireland has raised more than 75 million euros from the tax since it was introduced in 2002, in an attempt to reduce litter from the 1.2 billion bags given to Irish shoppers each year. It also improves the country's environmental record.



















Con: Some people forget to bring their own personal bag. Or one ends up buying more at the grocery store on a given day than they had originally intended.