How the plastic bag tax worked brilliantly, in one chart

As annoying as the five pence plastic bag tax is, it seems to have been a massive hit.

The government has said the plastic bag tax has resulted in a dramatic reduction of the number of bags in use, making the levy a "huge success".

In 2014, the waste reduction charity Wrap estimated that 7.64 billion plastic bags were used by seven major supermarkets in England.

New figures from the government show that this number has fallen dramatically in the first six months of the levy.

The net proceeds from the levy came to £41.3m, £29.2m of which has been donated.

If the trend continues until the anniversary of the tax in October, this year would see a drop of 92 per cent.

Environment Minister Thérèse Coffey said:

Taking six billion plastic bags out of circulation is fantastic news for all of us – it will mean our precious marine life is safer, our communities are cleaner and future generations won’t be saddled with mountains of plastic sat taking hundreds of years to breakdown in landfill sites.

The 5p charge has clearly been a huge success – not only for our environment but for good causes across the country that have benefitted from an impressive £29 million raised.

HT BBC

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