Interest in a potential tax on plastic carrier bags has been aroused in the UK following the implementation of such a tax in the Republic of Ireland in 2002. There has also been in interest in Scotland, where a Member of the Scottish Parliament, Mike Pringle, is calling for legislation to obligate local authorities to introduce bag taxes.
The BPF represents the whole plastics supply chain in the UK, including polymer producers, distributors and suppliers, additives suppliers, processors - including those involved in packaging, machinery suppliers and recyclers. This section of the BPF website endorses the views of PIFA (Packaging and Industrial Films Association).

A SUMMARY OF BPF'S POSITION ON PLASTIC CARRIER BAGS & LITTER - A BACKGROUND TO THE ISSUE
Are plastic carrier bags a litter problem?
No, in the UK, plastic carrier bags are not a serious litter issue.
Firstly, litter is a problem of social behaviour, and is not specific to any one material or product. For many years the BPF has been a member of ENCAMS (formerly known as the Tidy Britain Group) to support litter education programmes, surveys and campaigns. Consumers are encouraged to re-use and then dispose of their bags responsibly. Some stores now run bag recycling schemes.
Secondly, plastic carrier bags are not a significant component of litter in the UK, studies have shown that bags probably make up less than 1% of litter, and that cigarette butts are by far the highest proportion of litter.
Plastic bags are useful and provide a hygienic, odourless, waterproof, robust and convenient way of carrying goods. Because of their strength and durability plastics bags can be re-used time and time again, either for a similar purpose or a wide range of other uses. As the NOP survey, commissioned by DEFRA in 2000, amply illustrates, more than 80 per cent re-use their plastic carrier bags, a high re-use rate for consumer packaging.

Why taxing plastic bags is a non-starter
The BPF believes there would be little logic in taxing plastic carrier bags, as they are not a significant litter problem and they do not represent a significant environmental impact.
Just 4% of crude oil consumption is used for all plastics, and only 2% for all films, of which plastic bags is a very small proportion. 85% of oil is burned as fuel or heating.
Plastic bags are extraordinarily energy-efficient in manufacture, and more so than paper bags. Not only do they prevent waste of goods carried, but the embodied energy can be recovered either by recycling or via energy-from-waste systems.
Plastic carriers are lightweight, convenient and popular. A tax would discriminate unjustly against plastics and would represent an anti-competitive move and a serious restraint on trade, damaging jobs and an industry already battling against over-regulation and under-investment.