ACS gave oral evidence to the Environment and Sustainability Committee about proposed reforming of carrier bag charging and new waste recycling legislation as laid out in the Environment (Wales) Bill yesterday.
The Bill seeks to give Welsh Ministers further powers to place a minimum price on the sale of ‘bags for life’ and to make it a mandatory requirement for all businesses to separate different types of waste into different categories before it is collected.
ACS chief executive, James Lowman said: “The introduction of these additional measures would place significant cost and operational burdens on small retailers. The current carrier bag charge has been very successful in changing customer habits and reducing carrier bag usage. To add a minimum charge to bags for life and all other carrier bags would place added reporting burdens on retailers”.
Mr Lowman continued: “In addition to this, many convenience stores already have recycling measures in place, so introducing regulations forcing retailers to separate their waste by multiple categories seems unnecessary and would cause many retailers to divert staff time in changing their current procedures to fit new Government requirements”.
Other proposed measures in the Bill include making it a mandatory requirement for retailers to donate the proceeds from carrier bag charges to charities.
ACS Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Edward Woodall, yesterday gave oral evidence to the Environment and Sustainability Committee at the National Assembly for Wales, representing the views of convenience store retailers.
Earlier this year, ACS responded to the Environment and Sustainability Committee’s consultation for the Environment (Wales) Bill, which can be viewed here: http://www.acs.org.uk/download/environment-bill-wales/
