Criticism of the tax’s removal includes concerns from Sweden’s own environmental protection agency, which argued that the levy remains essential for cementing new habits.
Criticism of the tax’s removal includes concerns from Sweden’s own environmental protection agency, which argued that the levy remains essential for cementing new habits.
I don’t know what it’s like in Sweden, but at least anecdotally here in the UK I really appreciate not seeing discarded plastic bags floating about in the wind nearly so often. People were up in arms about it when it came in, but it seems like it worked. Could’ve done without working at Subway at the time, though. Pricks ordering a shitty sandwich with every sauce and extra on it and then getting pissed at me because a plastic bag to go around the already-wrapped sandwich that they are going to immediately unwrap and eat increases the cost by 1% were a dishearteningly common occurrence.
It’s actually staggering how effective a measly 5p minimum charge for bags was. I used to see carrier bags discarded all over the place, now I never do
While plastic bags isn’t the main culprit of plastic waste, I enjoyed seeing less plastic in the environment too.