When a bag ban isn’t (just) about the bags

Image courtesy of The Government of Jersey, 2022

At the last count by the UN Environment Programme (2018), 127 out of the 192 countries reviewed had adopted some form of legislation to regulate plastic bags, and on Thursday (21st July) Jersey will join them.

The Single-Use Plastics etc. (Restrictions) (Jersey) Law 2021 will prohibit the supply of most single use bags (plastic and paper) and enforce a 70p minimum charge for reusable bags (plastic and paper).

The aim of the new Law is to help us move away from the ‘buy>use>dispose’ process that we are all very used to and encourage us to reuse the bags we already have, again and again.

For me, this is where things get interesting as the law isn’t about bags (well, it is but it’s more than that), it’s about our behaviour.

The law gives us all a nudge to rethink the little decisions that all add up. These little decisions that we may make every day, such as the answer to ‘do you need a bag?’ might cost us money (and soon will cost us 70p a time) and they definitely have a cost to the environment.

In 2019 Greenpeace calculated there were nearly 57 reusable bags per household per year.  If the law can reduce this figure for Jersey, surely that’s a great thing and the environmental benefit comes at little to no personal cost, as long as you remember your own bag.

The new law also shines the spotlight on single use, something we were used to talking about until the pandemic raised concerns about anything reusable.

The current focus may be on bags but the law can be extended to include other avoidable single use items such as hot drink cups and takeaway food boxes or even fruit and vegetable packaging in the future, should there be political will to do so.

Paper bags are included in the law alongside their plastic counterparts.  This is an important element of the law and one that Jersey can be proud as this removes the opportunity to simply shift behaviour from single use plastic to single use paper.  This ‘shifting the issue’ would be a failure in terms of changing behaviour and environmental impact as paper bags have a larger footprint than plastic ones.

So the changes that we will all experience as a result of the new law coming into force this week may be focused on bags, but it’s an opportunity to think bigger than bags.  What other decisions can you make that will help to reduce what you use (and what’s made, transported and thrown away) and maybe reduce what you spend too?

More information can be found at gov.je/singleuseplastics

Emma Richardson-Calladine is the owner of waving back. Emma provides  marketing and engagement, social responsibility and education for sustainability consultancy for organisations making (and trying to make) positive environmental and social impacts. For more information visit www.wavingback.co.uk or email emma@wavingback.co.uk