Alderney air views on plastic ban

Monday 29 July 2019

A tax on plastic could be the answer to cutting the import of single use items like straws, disposable coffee cups and cotton buds into Alderney.

The suggestion was made by Policy and Finance Committee chairman and former economist James Dent during a debate without resolution at the July States Meeting.

Earlier this year Alderney signed up to a Blue Island Environmental Charter which includes in it a pledge to "move towards a complete ban on single-use plastics entering the island and its local environments". 

Many businesses and residents on Alderney are already voluntarily rising to the challenge of reducing plastic use. 

Kiln Farm removed plastic bags from its shops and this year installed a milk dispenser so customers can refill glass bottles, while butchers and the fishmonger moved towards more environmentally friendly packaging.

Steve Roberts got the ball rolling with a no punches pulled call for action. 

His eyes had been opened to the menace of plastic, he said, while on a boat trip in Vietnam. In every single square metre of sea he had seen a piece of plastic bobbing in it. The experience convinced him that a small island like Alderney could set an example to the world. 

He applauded the island businesses that had already achieved much without regulation, he said, but legislative action was now required. "We need some form of regulation to get all retailers to follow suit. Please Mr Chairman, thrash out a detailed plan and bring it back to the States for voting on. The rest of the world will take notice. The time for debate has ended and action is now needed."

Chris Harris supplied a raft of startling facts and figures. Two thirds of the 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic produced since 1950 ended up as waste. Everyday plastic can take from 10 to 1,000 years to decompose. A plastic bottle takes around 450 years to decompose, a straw up to 200 years, a plastic back about 20 years. The UK is throwing away an estimated 35 million plastic bottles alone every year. 

However, that's not the end of the story. Plastic is ultimately indestructible. Microbes cannot digest plastic as they do organic waste, so rather than decompose it merely degrades into ever smaller and smaller pieces, which inevitably find their way into water courses and the ocean. 

Claire Thorpe from AWT with anti-plastic campaigners Bobbie Allen, and Simon And Matthew Dooley. 

There it is ingested by marine life of all sizes, even plankton, at the root of the food chain A major step forward, he said, would be a ban on single use plastics. 

"We must encourage all local businesses and users to take responsibility, following the lead of retailers like the Farm Shop, who introduced the milk dispenser. A blanket ban on all single use plastic would be a step forward."

James Dent asked whether a ban or a tax on plastic would be a more effective weapon in reducing import of plastic. He said banning any form of plastic would be 'almost impossible' as it would involve control at borders and difficult to police, and besides, in Alderney people were not keen on restrictions placed on their freedoms. As an economist, his natural inclination was to use price as the best mechanism for steering social behaviour. 

Playing 'devil's advocate', he also questioned whether plastic alternatives were always environmentally superior when all aspects were considered.  Glass bottles also require much more energy – both to manufacture and then to transport, and because of this, their carbon dioxide footprint is actually higher than for plastic bottles.  

Even more surprising, the American Chemistry Council and environmental accounting firm Trucost, estimate that if the soft drinks industry used alternative packaging like glass, tin or aluminium instead of plastic, the ultimate financial cost of dealing with the waste could be five times higher than it is now.' But the social and environmental costs imposed on others when plastic was used – usually many thousands of miles away - made the ethical argument for reducing plastic win out. 

"As an economist, I would say that, one of the first thing we could do, is make those who use, and buy, plastic pay not just the cost of manufacture but an additional levy that represents the true social cost, to the entire world, of disposal. 

"Now, while I do not know what such a policy would have on the price of plastic, I am pretty sure it would increase the price several fold. I think it would not be long before many would soon be finding other ways to package their goods."

The 22 cents levy on plastic bags in Ireland has seen an average household reduce their consumption of bags drop from 350 per year to about 14. He said the most effective solution could be to work with Guernsey on any legislation to reduce plastic consumption. 

"If we wanted, I do think we could impose a charge, maybe a very hefty charge, through our retailers.  Even though it would cause problems, a charge like this would nonetheless show the world that we care  and given our small size, one of the few things we can do, is set a good example."

He concluded: "For Alderney I put most faith in voluntary reductions - hopefully because people see that it is the right thing to do – and because it would require little policing. Globally, the world needs to introduce new ways of packaging and reducing the amount of plastic we consume and currently just throw away. Alderney can do its bit by setting the world a good example."

Louis Jean and Mike Dean said they were against any further tax burden being imposed on the public, when they already shouldered inflated costs for recycling, export and import. Mr Jean also queried where Alderney's waste ultimately ended up.