Fighting the addiction to plastic bags

Helga Ellul argues in favour of a zero rate on biodegradable plastic bags (Talking Point, Putting Plastic Bags In One Bag, March 3). By this I understand that there should be no tax on such bags.

Whereas I will not go into the merits of the amount of this tax relative to the tax on non-biodegradable bags, I do believe that the tax on biodegradable bags ought to be high enough to discourage retailers from absorbing the tax and shoppers from being indifferent to it.

Plastic bags, of whatever kind, do not melt into thin air overnight.

On the contrary, they spend months littering our streets and beaches, clinging to tree branches in our countryside and wreaking havoc in the marine environment.

The fact is that in this small and untidy country of ours you are given a plastic bag, biodegradable or otherwise, even if you purchase an item as simple as a ball-point pen.

It was high time that someone had the courage to implement such a reform. Like all other unpopular but necessary changes, there will come a time when we will look back and thank ourselves for weaning ourselves off this addiction to plastic bags.