After long haul, supermarkets to charge for plastic bags from Sunday
10 agorot per bag law to take effect on January 1 in attempt to curb pollution, but activists warn small sum won’t be enough to dissuade use
Raoul Wootliff is a former Times of Israel political correspondent and Daily Briefing podcast producer.
More than two years after passing a first reading in the Knesset, a law imposing a charge on plastic bags at supermarkets will go into effect on Sunday.
The law requires customers to pay 10 agorot (almost $0.04) per plastic bag and will ban the distribution of certain types of polymer bags. The goal is to encourage Israelis to put their groceries in reusable bags, and thus to cut down on the environmental damage wrought by plastic.
According to the Environmental Protection Ministry, the average Israeli uses 275 plastic bags per year, which adds up to about two to three billion plastic bags across the country each year. This accounts for approximately 7 percent of Israel’s waste.
More than two years after giving an initial go-ahead, the Knesset voted the proposal, aimed at reducing municipal waste and pollution, into law in March.
Then-environmental protection minister Avi Gabbai called the move “an important step for the conservation of nature, without affecting the cost of living.”
But some environmental activists argue it does not go far enough and the charge is not high enough to reduce the numbers of plastic bags used.
“Studies by the Environmental Protection Ministry have shown a levy of less than 60 cents a bag will not be effective. Many people do not even pick up a 10 agorot coin on the street, so we can only hope this charge will make a difference,” MK Yael Cohen Paran (Zionist Union) said at the time.
Supermarket chains and plastic bag companies were said to have pressured Gabbai into lowering the cost from 40 agorot (about $0.12), as it was proposed in August 2014 by previous environmental protection minister Amir Peretz.
According to the Environmental Protection Ministry, supermarkets spend approximately NIS 88 million on plastic bags each year, a cost that is absorbed into their bottom line and not passed on to the consumer.
The law will require supermarkets to purchase the plastic bags at 10 agorot per bag, and pass that cost on to their customers. The law is only applicable to major supermarket chains. Local convenience stores and open-air markets will not be required to charge customers for bags.
The Environmental Ministry has explained this distinction by noting that supermarkets are the largest plastic bag consumers, often triple-bagging heavy items like milk.
In a previous iteration, the law had also required supermarket chains to pay approximately NIS 80-NIS 100 million to produce 20 million reusable bags and to give each family coupons for seven free reusable bags.
Other countries that tax plastic bags include Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, and France.
About 20 states and 100 cities in the US also have laws requiring charges for bags.
Some countries, such as Cambodia, Malawi, and Senegal, have banned plastic bags outright.
Melanie Lidman contributed to this report.
