Poots announces increase to NI Carrier Bag Levy

Date published: 09 November 2021

Environment Minister Edwin Poots MLA has announced that the Carrier Bag Levy charge in Northern Ireland will increase from 5 pence to 25 pence from 1st April 2022.

The Minister made the announcement during an Oral Statement to the Assembly on Northern Ireland’s first overarching Environment Strategy.

In addition to the rise in the Levy, Minister Poots also announced an extension to the existing pricing threshold, which will see all bags priced at £5 or less subject to the levy, irrespective of the material they are made from.

Welcoming today’s announcement, Minister Poots said: “Whilst the existing Carrier Bag Levy has been successful in already removing over 1.7 billion bags from circulation, I am aware that a significant number of retailers in NI are selling large volumes of heavy duty bags at a cost of 20 pence or more each. These are now flooding the market and are not being reused, with harmful environmental consequences. This announcement today will go some way towards making Northern Ireland a cleaner and more pleasant place in which to live, by ensuring that proceeds from the Levy are re-invested in supporting the wider NI environmental sector. By continuing to work together we can help meet the New Decade, New Approach commitment on eliminating plastic pollution, this also underpins the draft Green Growth Strategy for Northern Ireland, which I recently launched on behalf of the NI Executive.”

The Minister continued: “It is unacceptable that far too much plastic ends up as pollution in our environment or waste in our landfills. My Department will continue to work hard on the issue of the circular economy, eliminating plastic pollution and tackling throwaway culture. With over five trillion single use plastic bags used worldwide every year and plastic waste set to quadruple by 2050, I would encourage everyone to play their part locally and re-use bags whenever they can.”

Notes to editors: 

  1. The Carrier Bag Levy in Northern Ireland applies to ALL bags and not just plastic bags.
  2. A recent consultation on the Carrier Bag Levy NI opened on 1 June 2021 and Closed on 27 Jul 2021 consultations.nidirect.gov.uk/daera/carrier-bag-levy-ni-consultation.
  3. Annual validated statistics are available at www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/northern-ireland-carrier-bag-levy-statistics 
  4. Carrier Bag Levy legislation is available at www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2013/4/regulation/1/made and www.legislation.gov.uk/nia/2014/7/contents/enacted
  5. The scope and increased charge to 10p in the Carrier Bag Levy was introduced in England from May 2021, with the charge also increased in Scotland to 10p from April 2021.
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  7. All media queries should be directed to the DAERA Press Office: pressoffice.group@daera-ni.gov.uk
  8. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.

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