Nick Clegg's new plastic bag tax / charge comes into effect on October 5th across England. From that date, retailers with >250 full-time (equivalent) employees will have to charge at least 5p for the single-use plastic bag. The idea is to encourage people to re-use bags or to use ‘bags for life’. It's part of the nudge-nudge behaviour change campaign, and the 5p (or more) goes to charity.
It's a fair bet that few people know this is coming, and an even safer one that no one know whom to thank (or blame, according to your view point). When people complain (or cheer) and discover that it's Clegg to whom credit / blame is due, his public standing will either plummet further (or rise). As we should be open about the source of such a progressive / regressive move, I hope the government will make October 5th Nick Clegg Day as an annual reminder.
The full details of the charge / tax can be found on the Defra website.
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