Friday 3 July 2009

Let’s charge the plastic

MLAs have agreed to charge for plastic. No, it’s not the latest scam for politicians to get credit card expenses! Instead, MLAs look set to bring forward legislation to make us pay if we want plastic bags when we pick up our groceries.

Such was the announcement from new Environment Minister, Edwin Poots.

And a few moments after he said it, Sinn Féin MLA Dathai McKay posted a tweet on his Twitter (yes some MLAs have heard of this new fangled interweb thing!) saying he only had to mention it and the new Environment boss was welcoming the proposal. Dathai had earlier suggested to his fellow members on the Environment Committee that introducing such legislation was a good idea.

A rare show of solidarity…

It’s a pity that it’s really about catching up and a little bit of plastic envy.

There’s a levy in the Republic of Ireland on those pesky plastic shopping bags. The Welsh Assembly announced a similar levy this week. Marks and Spencer charge for the one use plastic bags…even Spar are trailing a tax on plastic bags.

Nice to see our forward thinking MLAs are trying to keep up with the environmental trends.

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