The lightweight plastic bags, which have to pay tax on 15 February, “virtually disappeared” of supermarkets, said today the Minister for the Environment, who still plans to get 40 million euros with the contribution.
“The solution aims to get people to have more sustainable behaviors, take home reusable and just go to supermarkets in the last two weeks to see that the plastic bags ‘soft’ bags practically disappeared,” said Jorge Moreira da Silva.
The Minister for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the presentation of Waste Cluster Portugal, group of several entities, companies, institutions or waste industry research centers , an initiative of LIPOR you want to join efforts to increase the competitiveness of this area.
“The fact that people are not paying the fee and are therefore not to use plastic bags and this is positive and On the other hand, is an emerging ‘stock’ growing garbage bags which was another goal, “he said.
The Government intended that consumers would stop using plastic bags” light “and to pass to use garbage bags for packaging waste, that option is “a greater environmental benefit,” according to Jorge Moreira da Silva.
Asked about the maintenance of the intention to get 40 million euros with the participation eight cents two cents of VAT, the minister said that it is “a conservative estimate”.
“If there was a reduction to 50 bags [per capita per year], as we estimate the tax would be EUR 400 million, the value of EUR 40 million is an absolutely robust value, reflecting a reduction of 466 to 50 bags “already in 2015, defended the minister.
Consumers began to pay 10 cents for each plastic bag “light” in business premises, hypermarkets to pharmacies, an environmental contribution to try to reduce the presence of this material in nature.
The Portuguese are the Europeans who most use plastic bags “light”, reaching 466 per inhabitant per year, a number that the Government intends reduced to 50 this year and 35 in 2016.
Each bag is used in about 25 minutes, and the amount of plastic deteriorated remains about 300 years in nature, affecting animals, such as fish that ingest confused with food.
According to the accounts of the Ministry of Environment, EUR 167 million will be obtained with the Green Taxation, most part of which (150 million) should be devoted to the relief of the IRS (Income Tax Single) from households, while the remaining 17 million euros intended for nature conservation fund and encourage sustainable mobility.
Digital Diary with Lusa
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