Nowegian retailers are taking the initiative themselves to boost plastic bag fees by 50 percent, and send the money to a new fund earmarked for environmental measures. The goal is to reduce plastic bag usage, but not everyone thinks it will work.
“I think only a few people will use fewer plastic bags,” grocery store consultant Erik Fagerlid told state broadcaster NRK Monday when retail employers’ organization Virke unveiled the new plastic bag fees. Fagerlid said he thinks Norwegian consumers will simply pay the higher fee, and carry on as usual.
Virke’s initiative will boost plastic bag fees from around NOK 1 to NOK 1.50 beginning January 1. The extra 50 øre (half a krone) is not a state-imposed fee or tax but rather a retailers’ fee that will be deposited into a fund set up to promote environmental causes that have not been defined in details.
newsinenglish.no staff
