Helping the hoarders

IN 2014 British shoppers took home 8.5 billion single-use carrier bags from big supermarkets. The average household has 40 of them stashed at home. But from October 5th large retailers in England will have to charge at least 5p ($0.08) per bag (in Scotland and Wales the levy already exists). What will be the impact?

After Ireland introduced a plastic-bag charge in 2002 (at €0.15, or $0.17, a pop) usage dropped by 90%, according to a paper by three researchers at University College Dublin. Marks & Spencer, a British chain which introduced its own 5p charge in 2008, found that it prompted a fall of 70%. Assuming a similar drop now takes place across England, consumers will pay about £100m for their bags over the next year, or about £2 each. Sceptics of the plan believe that as people turn to sturdier “bags-for-life” they will shell out more; optimists counter that supermarkets may reduce their grocery prices, since they will face lower “hidden costs” in providing the bags.