MEPs back plan to slash use of plastic bags across Europe by 80% by introducing fines or bans



New EU target set to reduce plastic bag use by 80 per cent



Each EU citizen uses an average of 200 bags every year

They are kept for an average of 20 minutes but take 1,000 years to degrade

Shoppers across Europe may soon have to pay for plastic bags under planned EU laws designed to reduce litter.

Euro MPs voted in favour of strict targets that would force each country to halve its use of the lightweight disposable bags by 2017 and to cut it by 80 per cent by 2019.

The 28 member states will be allowed to decide themselves how to meet the target – but MEPs suggest they will either have to introduce a charge for the single-use carrier bags, tax shops which give them out for free, or impose a complete ban.

Britons could soon be banned from taking their shopping home in plastic bags after the MEPs approved EU targets

Parliament’s Environment Committee yesterday backed a report by the European Commission that would require each government to take some form of legislative action to curb free handouts of plastic bags.

The average EU citizen uses 198 plastic bags a year, the vast majority of which are single-use. Critics of plastic bags argue they waste resources, contribute to litter, and represent a powerful symbol of the 'throwaway society', and last year the European Commission put forward proposals to require member states to enact plastic bag bans, levies, or other measures to reduce their use.

MEPs have now approved the plans, which aim to halve plastic bag hand-outs over three years and then reduce use to 80 per cent of today’s levels by the end of the decade.

Every year each EU citizen uses, on average, 200 bags with 8billion of them ending up in seas and rivers

Under the new rules, which still have to be voted on by the full European Parliament and backed by the European Council, member states would have the option of introducing a small levy on plastic bags, as has already been successfully enacted in the Republic of Ireland, France, Norway and Spain.



Alternatively, they could introduce mandatory plastic bag reduction targets.

The legislation would also make it possible for governments to introduce an outright ban on plastic bags, without contravening single market rules.

Italy is currently facing legal action from the Commission, after launching Europe’s first plastic bag ban in 2011. But that case could be dropped if the new proposals get the green light.

However, despite the ENVI Committee’s overall support for the plan yesterday, Conservative MEPs were strongly opposed to the idea.



Writing on Twitter, MEP Vicky Ford questioned if plastic bag use should be within the remit of the EU.

It now remains to be seen whether the whole Parliament will now approve the plans in April, when they are due to be discussed at a Plenary session.

Green MEP Margrete Auken had originally proposed a target to reduce plastic bag use by 80 per cent over two years, but the Socialists, European People’s Party and ALDE group reached a compromise agreement to deliver on the target over five years, in the hope that it would be more likely to gain majority backing in the plenary vote.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has already set a minimum 5p charge for plastic bags from 2015 in response to the Mail's Banish the Bags campaign

Chris Davies, Liberal Democrat MEP and environment spokesman for the party in Brussels, accused the Conservative Party of opposing action to tackle a serious environmental problem.



'It is clear that we need an EU-wide approach to prevent the enormous damage being done by plastic bag waste to Europe’s seas and beaches,' he said.

'Plastic bags not only blight our landscape, they pose a serious threat to marine wildlife. Three-quarters of seabirds and one third of fish in the English Channel have been found to be contaminated by plastic waste, much of it from plastic bags.

By voting against these proposals, the Tories are sending out a clear signal that they don’t care about preserving our marine environment for future generations.'