Spain to introduce universal carrier bag charge in 2018

It will be compulsory to pay for carrier bags in Spain from January 1, 2018.

For all of Spain’s progressive values – consistently voting in left-leaning Prime Ministers (well, quite consistently), being one of the first countries to legalise gay marriage, and being open to expats and immigrants from all over the world – the country has tended to drag its heels on environmental matters…

Despite being one of Europe’s sunniest countries, Spain has had a complicated relationship with solar power, and when it comes to recycling many parts of Western Europe are ahead of Spain when it comes to public awareness and political support.

But Spain’s Environment Ministry has plans to change all that – starting at the checkout. Environment Minister Isabel García Tejerna has announced that, from January 1 2018, shops will no longer be permitted to give out free plastic bags.

Instead, a charge will be levied per bag, with some types of carrier bags set to be priced as high as 30 euro cents. Some supermarkets in Spain have been charging between one and five cents for light carrier bags for some years now, but so far there has been no national decree compelling all stores to do likewise.

Such a scheme was recently introduced in the UK amid some mild controversy and discomfort, but today the charges are roundly viewed as a success: use of plastic bags has fallen 85% since October 2015 and habits have been reshaped and reformed.

Countries such as Germany and Denmark have long charged for plastic bags, and their citizens think nothing of heading to the shops with “bags for life” or somesuch in hand to ensure they don’t have to pay the charge.

Spain is a little late to the party, but is still within the time limit set by a European Union directive introduced in 2015 compelling EU countries to cut their waste and plastic use. The directive does not necessarily ask countries to levy charges, but rather to cut usage down to 90 bags per person per year by 2020 – and studies have shown that the introduction of a charge is the best method for forcing behaviour change.

Spain is by no means one of the EU’s worst offenders in terms of plastic bag use. Data shows that around 87% of Spaniards take shopping bags with them to the supermarket.

Nevertheless, in 2014, the country got through 4.7 tonnes of plastic bags, which amounts to some 158 million bags per year. Per head, that works out at 133 carrier bags a year. The majority of those bags used weighed up to 29 micrograms, making them a tad more durable than the flimsy, thin ones you tend to receive from markets and smaller gift stores. These more durable bags will attract that 30 euro cent charge, with prices falling incrementally the lighter and less durable the bag is.