Levying a charge of 5p per bag has seen a dramatic drop in use of plastic bags

By levying a nominal charge of 5p per plastic bag, the use of such bags has dropped dramatically. The result is that there will be six billion fewer single-use plastic bags taken home this year. The decision had been taken by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who have confirmed that more than seven billion bags were handed out by major retailers in 2014. However, this figure fell to just over half a billion in the first six months after the 5p charge was introduced last October.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 30 July 2016.

As a side effect, retailers have donated more than £29m towards charities and community groups because of the charge. Removing six billion plastic bags out of circulation is a great achievement and fantastic news because, it will translate into making our precious marine life safer, our communities cleaner and the future generations will not be saddled with mountains of plastic that will take hundreds of years to break down in landfill sites.
The 5p charge was meant for retailers who had 250 or more full-time equivalent employees - they had to charge a minimum of 5p for the bags they provide for shopping in stores and for deliveries. Smaller shops and paper bags were exempted. The 5p charge has clearly been a huge success - for not just the environment but also for a good causes across the country from the £29m raised for charities.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

Efforts on by Odisha to get UNESCO Heritage tag for Bhitarkanika national park

Alitalia pilot refused to fly from Beirut to Rome because he was tired - passengers stuck for 16 hours at Beirut

Wildfire in California spreads over 11,000 acres - residents evacuated


Didi not happy seeing urchins in Howrah Station (satire)

Lord Shiva stumped by the sea of humanity on 21st (satire)

Moody embraces yoga, his medics could embrace poverty (satire)

Lone wolf attack in Munich mall kills 10 including the attacker

Youth attacks train commuters with an axe - leaves more than 20 injured, some seriously

ISIS carries out suicide attack in Kabul - 80 killed, death toll could rise


Sir Michael Caine forced to change his name because of ISIS

Irrfan Khan meets Arvind Kejriwal before release of his film 'Madaari'

Kissing scenes in movies – why this fad has never caught on in Bollywood