The Knesset has approved legislation requiring consumers to pay NIS 0.10 for each plastic bag in retail food chains, as of January 1, 2017. The Knesset plenum approved the "Bags Bill" yesterday on its second and third readings, and targets for its implementation will be set within 15 months. The Minister of Environmental Protection can extend the law to all businesses, and also raise the price of bags.
The law also stipulates that the amount paid for the bags will be given in its entirety to a Ministry of Environmental Protection cleaning fund, and will be used for an air pollution reduction project all over Israel, and for explaining the new law.
The final version of the bill setting the NIS 0.10 price for a bag was strongly criticized, because the price will not change consumers' attitude. The price in the original version of the bill was NIS 0.30 per bag, but was lowered to NIS 0.10 under pressure from various parties.
In the UK, for example, the price of a bag starts at NIS 0.50, and the same is true for other European countries. The Council for a Beautiful Israel and the Zalul non-profit organization believe that the law in its current form will not have the desired effect: "We realized that in order to change habits, a courageous and uncompromising law that will make Israelis take fewer bags in the supermarket is needed, but that is not the bill passed by the Knesset. When a bag costs only NIS 0.10, without any targets or sanctions, it looks like it was designed to pass the Knesset easily, and will leave the public indifferent." MK Michal Rozin (Meretz) added that the price was likely to be overshadowed by the already expensive basket of purchases, and she therefore urged setting targets for fewer bags, and linking the price of bags to the targets.
Actually, the main purpose of charging money for plastic bags is to introduce the habit of taking plastic bags to the supermarket, and it is up to the shoppers to prove that they can change their ways, especially if these affect the environment. An Israeli consumes an average of 275 plastic bags a year, meaning that 2.2 billion plastic bags a year are consumed in Israel, and most of them, even if they are reused, wind up in open spaces and the urban environment, nature preserves, and beaches.
In Europe, consumers are used to shopping with reusable bags, and it can be assumed that this habit will eventually take root in Israel. In one of its versions, which was eventually dropped, the bill proposed that the state distribute such bags.
Under the law, which was begun during the preceding Knesset term, distribution of disposable bags with a thickness of less than 20 microns at the major supermarket chains will be completely discontinued. Thin bags without handles in the fruits and vegetables departments will be provided free of charge.
The retail chains currently spend NIS 88 million a year on carrier bags, an expense that is, of course, rolled over onto the consumer.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 29, 2016
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