Northern Ireland carrier bag levy statistics

The Northern Ireland carrier bag levy statistics are updated annually.

What are carrier bag levy statistics?

The purpose of this publication is to report on the number of carrier bags dispensed each financial year under the carrier bag levy in Northern Ireland.

The Single Use Carrier Bags Charge Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2013 were made on 15 January 2013 and came into operation on 8 April 2013. From that date, all sellers of goods in Northern Ireland had to charge their customers at least 5 pence (“the levy”) for each single use carrier bag supplied new. From 1st April 2022, the Carrier Bags Charge Regulations were extended so that the levy is 25p and applies to all new carrier bags with a retail price of £5 or less. This is regardless of the material used and whether they are single use or reusable.

Publications

Next update

This report will be updated annually.

The Department intends to publish 2024/25 figures in August 2025.

The scheduled dates for all upcoming publications are available from the GOV.UK statistics release calendar.

Related links

Contact us

Responsible statistician: Conor McCormack

Tel: +44 (0)28 9016 3346

Email: env.stats@daera-ni.gov.uk

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