The environmental NGO Nature Trust (Malta) has welcomed the three-tiered system of eco-taxing plastic bags as a rare example of the polluter-pays principle being really put into practice.
It said it agreed that plastic bags should be taxed differently according to whether they are bio-degradable or semi-bio-degradable.
Nature Trust said it hoped this measure would reduce the millions of plastic bags that litter our environment. Burning plastic in landfills is a health hazard due to the by-production of carcinogenic dioxins, it said, and plastic floating in the sea was a hazard to marine mammals as it chokes dolphins and other aquatic animals.
The NGO encouraged consumers to put pressure on commercial outlets to re-introduce cloth bags at point of sale and provide facilities where shoppers can leave the bags they bring from home to fill them with the shopping on their way out to further reduce unnecessary waste.
On the other hand, Nature Trust encouraged companies producing plastic bags to change over to bio-degradable plastic bags in response to the new market.