Plastic bag use in Israel has dropped by 75% since the fee on plastic bags was implemented, consistent with a replacement report by the Environmental Protection Ministry published on Sunday.
About 495 million plastic bags were bought by customers in 2020, a 75% decrease compared to the 1,754,000,000 bags utilized in 2016.
While the amount of luggage acquired dropped to 378,000,000 in 2017, the primary year during which the law was in situ , the amount of luggage acquired annually has grown since then, rising by 9% in 2020 compared to 2019.
The ministry stated that it believed the increase in 2020 was thanks to changes in behavior sparked by the coronavirus outbreak, because the amount of food purchased rose and single use products were used more thanks to sanitation concerns.
The number of supermarket branches has also grown in recent years, which also may have contributed to the increase within the number of plastic bags used. Israel’s population has also grown by 8.5% since 2017
Israelis who wish to receive plastic bags at grocery stores must pay a 10-agorot fee for every bag acquired. The bag Law took effect at the start of 2017.
The law requires supermarkets to stay a record of what percentage bags were purchased and to report the numbers each quarter.
The report stressed that there was a niche found between the amount of luggage purchased by retailers and therefore the number of luggage sold to customers, adding that this might flow from to bags being given to customers for free of charge in violation of the law. The retailers claim that the gap is thanks to inventory movements, self-use of luggage within the Branches and depreciation or wear and tear.
“The Environmental Protection Ministry will continue with information and enforcement activities so as to take care of a coffee level of consumption of disposable bags. We conduct checks on major retailers, importers and warehouses and can not comply with any violation of the luggage Law,” said the ministry.
The report comes shortly after a replacement plan was promoted by minister of finance Avigdor Liberman and Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg to scale back the utilization of disposable utensils in Israel by 40%.
In the last decade, the speed of consumption of disposable utensils in Israel has doubled, their ministries said during a joint handout . Under the new framework, a sale tax are going to be imposed on local imports and production supported the load of the products.
The annual household consumption of disposable plastic products is about 7.5 kg. per capita, five times quite within the European Union , the ministries said. Israeli households spend about NIS 1.3 billion on disposable utensils.
The decision is predicated on a study by the Environmental Protection Ministry that found doubling the worth to the buyer would scale back usage by about 40%. the precise amount of the tax are going to be determined later, while examining a spread of considerations of the Israel Tax Authority.
