Good news for war on waste

Following the success of the carrier bag charge, today we welcome Chancellor Philip Hammond’s  announcement that the Government will "investigate how the tax system and charges on single-use plastic items can reduce waste" in his Budget speech.

We successfully campaigned for the carrier bag charge as a way of reducing the plastic bag litter that blighted our streets, parks and beaches and represented a huge threat to marine life.

Our Chief Executive Allison Ogden-Newton said: “We need to tackle the enormous amount of litter and waste our throwaway lifestyles generate and this announcement today is a great first step.

“As a charity, we successfully campaigned for a 5p charge on single-use carrier bags that has resulted in the public changing their behaviour and using nine billion less bags since its introduction.

“The evidence shows that economic measures change behaviour and improve the environment on our doorstep and we would like to see the revenue generated from such taxes and charges used to improve our country’s waste infrastructure, boost our stagnant recycling rates, reduce fly-tipping and tackle littering.”