Visits to my local Tesco often end with me having to explain to the teller several times over that I do not need a plastic bag for the 2 items I have just purchased. My refusal of a bag is usually met with looks of suspicion or in some extreme cases the presentation of a plastic bag anyway as the teller cannot understand the concept of bagless shopping.

One of my younger sisters was over for a weekend recently and while we were standing a queue in an M&S Foodhall she leaned over and asked me worryingly how much the plastic bags were. To someone from outside of Ireland this would seem like a very odd question to ask. Aren’t plastic bags free? Isn’t it one’s God-given right under the Magna Carta, Bill of Rights and the Geneva convention to be presented with a clutch of free shiny plastic bags everytime they purchase something at the Tescos and Wal-Marts of this world?

Well in Ireland there is no such right. All shops must charge shoppers a levy, currently 19c, for every plastic bag they use. This law was introduced back in 2002 and has been a resounding success with a 90% reduction in the usage of plastic bags. Why Britain or better yet the European Union has not yet implemented such a levy is beyond me. It’s such a simple law to implement and it has a very postive effect on our environment.

More importantly, it leads to a shift in one’s mentality towards generating waste. Before the imposition of the levy in Ireland I would never have thought to refuse a bag. Now I’m acutely aware of every plastic bag that is thrust upon me. During a recent trip to Borough Market, I accumulated 3 plastic bags and this from London’s supposed centre of all things foodie, organic and tree-hugging. So next time somebody attempts to foist a plastic bag upon you, you know what to say…