No more free plastic bags after the New Year
plastic bags
27 Dec 2017
/ 17:35
From January 1st there will be a charge of 4 cents for plastic carrier bags.
The government are looking to make tens or even hundreds of million Euros from the plastic bags that are at present free in Greek supermarkets and which end up in the rubbish or in the sea. The new regulation puts the cost at 3 cents per bag, but when VAT is added, the customer will pay 4 cents. And from January 1st 2019, the price will increase to 7 cents – 9 cents when VAT is added.
- The charge covers plastic bags from all shops, not just supermarkets.
- Business owners who don’t charge for the bags will be fined from 200 up to 5000 Euros.
- Small plastic bags, such as those at greengrocer shops, will still be free of charge as they are not considered carrier bags, but are used to wrap goods.
What will it cost us annually?
The Ministry for the Environment has calculated that approximately 4.5 billion plastic bags are used annually and that each person in Greece uses about 400 every year. At 4 cents per bag, the income for the state could be as much as 180 million Euros and each consumer will pay 16 Euros a year.
The aim of the European Union, whose idea it was to apply the charge, is to limit consumption to 90 plastic bags by 2020. If this is achieved and the use of plastic bags is drastically cut, the consumer will pay about 3.6 – 3.8 Euros per year (based on 4 cents in 2018 and 9 cents in 2019) and the income for the state will be between 35-80 million per year.
Greece uses the most plastic bags in Europe
Greece occupies the top position in the use of plastic bags with over twice the average amount in Europe – 175 bags per year.
The number of reusable bags (e.g. cloth), however, is extremely low. It has been calculated at 400,000-500,000 per year – 0.05 bags per person. Denmark, which is one of the most advanced countries in reducing the use of plastic bags, has 75 reusable bags per person and the average in the European Union is 23.
In Greece, the average consumer uses 4 plastic bags when shopping and only fills about half of those, 80% of consumers then use them for their rubbish.
Following the announcement that there will be a charge for the bags, only one in ten people in Greece said that they would continue to use plastic bags and two in three said that they should be banned.
Source: Protothema.gr
- The charge covers plastic bags from all shops, not just supermarkets.
- Business owners who don’t charge for the bags will be fined from 200 up to 5000 Euros.
- Small plastic bags, such as those at greengrocer shops, will still be free of charge as they are not considered carrier bags, but are used to wrap goods.
What will it cost us annually?
The Ministry for the Environment has calculated that approximately 4.5 billion plastic bags are used annually and that each person in Greece uses about 400 every year. At 4 cents per bag, the income for the state could be as much as 180 million Euros and each consumer will pay 16 Euros a year.
The aim of the European Union, whose idea it was to apply the charge, is to limit consumption to 90 plastic bags by 2020. If this is achieved and the use of plastic bags is drastically cut, the consumer will pay about 3.6 – 3.8 Euros per year (based on 4 cents in 2018 and 9 cents in 2019) and the income for the state will be between 35-80 million per year.
Greece uses the most plastic bags in Europe
Greece occupies the top position in the use of plastic bags with over twice the average amount in Europe – 175 bags per year.
The number of reusable bags (e.g. cloth), however, is extremely low. It has been calculated at 400,000-500,000 per year – 0.05 bags per person. Denmark, which is one of the most advanced countries in reducing the use of plastic bags, has 75 reusable bags per person and the average in the European Union is 23.
In Greece, the average consumer uses 4 plastic bags when shopping and only fills about half of those, 80% of consumers then use them for their rubbish.
Following the announcement that there will be a charge for the bags, only one in ten people in Greece said that they would continue to use plastic bags and two in three said that they should be banned.
Source: Protothema.gr
