Tax plastic bags instead of boats in Greece!

A

Aquarella

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 Sep 2011
Messages
90
Location
Sweden/Greece
www.elizabethtyler.com
I am always alarmed by the amount of plastic bags I see from my boat in the Med, especially in Greece. This polution, with the obvious danger to marine life, not to mention boat propellers, is increasing every year. By far the worst culprit is Greece. An obvious solution would be to put a large tax on plastic bags so shopkeepers and supermarkets would refrain from giving customers a whole heap of plastic bags at the till. It's so unnecessary.
 
Last edited:
Aquarella said:
I am always alarmed by the amount of plastic bags I see from my boat in the Med, especially in Greece. This polution, with the obvious danger to marine life, not the mention boat propellers, is increasing every year. By far the worst culprit is Greece. .
Click to expand...

The worst we've ever seen is around Sicily, the amount of carrier bags and water bottles made it almost possible to walk on water!
 
Crossing the Strait of Otranto from Brindisi to Corfu my crew wanted to troll for fish - he had to give up, as soon as the hook was trailing it snagged a plastic bag. But that has more to do with Italy than Greece - the Mafia have the refuse disposal contracts in many regions and there is tipping in that area close to the shore that ends up in the sea.
 
Vonasi said:
I once saw something on TV about a rubbish tip in Lebanon right on the edge of the sea. they dumped rubbish on one side and an equal amount fell off the other side into the sea.
Click to expand...

There's one of those on the beautiful little island of Angistri here in Greece, you can sail past and watch the trash roll down the hill.
 
Plastic water bottles in Greece are my particular hobby horse (and Sir Rods)
I just dont understand why so much bottled water is used.
They are banned on my boat - Ive used a decent water filter and drunk tap/tank water without any problems for years.
 
The major supermarket on Corfu, "AB Marinopoulos" hands out biodegradable bags which become useless within a couple of weeks. We found this out when we thought we had rats on board after discovering what looked like well chewed bags which we keep for bin liners and had to throw them away. They just go to dust. Maybe the other shops could be encouraged to use these too?
 
Aquarella said:
I am always alarmed by the amount of plastic bags I see from my boat in the Med, especially in Greece. This polution, with the obvious danger to marine life, not to mention boat propellers, is increasing every year. By far the worst culprit is Greece. An obvious solution would be to put a large tax on plastic bags so shopkeepers and supermarkets would refrain from giving customers a whole heap of plastic bags at the till. It's so unnecessary.
Click to expand...

Ireland was one of the first countries in the EU to introduce bag tax, last year it was increased to 70 cents a bag...
A miracle has happened, no more floating bags in the rivers and lakes!:)
 
rustybarge said:
Ireland was one of the first countries in the EU to introduce bag tax, last year it was increased to 70 cents a bag...
A miracle has happened, no more floating bags in the rivers and lakes!:)
Click to expand...

70 cents a bag! If I multiplied the number of plastic bags we get through each year by 70 cents we could have enough money to employ a servant to carry our shopping for us! But where would we put him on a 10 meter boat? See every problem solved creates another one.
 
A trifle late with the proposal which started rolling in the Commission in 1994.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/packaging/legis.htm

Corsica was the first, in 1991, Ireland certainly wasn't first but has already put the directive into force, if the LibDems have their way the UK will not be long in following.

It's a little naive, I'd suggest, proposing a tax-in-pipeline for one which will produce far more cash and will be unlikely to cause the taxed to give up their current practices.
 
Steve C Cronin said:
The major supermarket on Corfu, "AB Marinopoulos" hands out biodegradable bags which become useless within a couple of weeks. We found this out when we thought we had rats on board after discovering what looked like well chewed bags which we keep for bin liners and had to throw them away. They just go to dust. Maybe the other shops could be encouraged to use these too?
Click to expand...

Steve - AB supermarket - major ? Surely you mean Lidl, further down the road !! To be honest we love the free bags doled out by the supermarkets and like others use them for rubblish bags on board.
 
http://www.onyabags.co.uk/

QUOTE=Vonasi;4603173]But then everyone would have to go and buy long-life bin bags instead of using old plastic carrier bags in their bins and we'd be back to square one. Now if someone could invent a bag that lasts a few months and then turns to dust that'd be much better as surely a few weeks in far too short a shelf life - then you could leave a pack on board happy that you'll always have a bin bag available and happy because it bio-degrades once you've finished with it. Now why didn't I pay more attention in chemistry? If I had then this time next year I could be a millionaire.[/QUOTE]

What's wrong with buying reusable bags? We carry several of the big supermarket bags when we do a big shop and have a few 'onya' bags with us almost all the time.
 
We have been plastic bag free in Wales for several years. It is normally not a problem once accustomed to carrying long-life bags but sometimes, for example when buying multiple items and some foods, it can be a real nuisance.
 
Vonasi said:
If your plastic bag free then what do you put your rubbish in? I suppose you have to go to the supermarket and buy some plastic bags - isn't that the same place that used to give them to you free?
Click to expand...

Now I can't get the crazy thought out of my head of people carrying their plastic bags home from the supermarket inside their re-usable bags. Has the world gone mad? Next thing you know they'll be taxing boats for visiting countries!
 
Vonasi said:
Thanks for the shares tips. I normally use a different forum for share chat so you've saved me some time. Although I hope you haven't owned the shares too long as the price seems to have dropped about 70% since 2011. Ah the joys of penny shares.
Click to expand...

My comment is, of course, without prejudice!

I am breaking even at the moment.

My poor old father bought in 2010 at 10p, watched them rise to about 20p but did not sell.

He still believes they have great potential, for a variety of reasons - not least as he was MD of a multi-national packaging company back in the eighties - and knows his stuff, much of which is still relevant today.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top