Consumers snubbed plastic bags after charge imposed

Far fewer people take plastic bags at checkouts in Switzerland. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

The introduction of a small fee for plastic bags in shops has had a dramatic effect on the number of bags being used by consumers.

The five rappen cost in 2016 saw the number of plastic bags being used, and then thrown away, fall by 84% in the first year, according to official figures.

+ Switzerland admits it has a plastic problem

Since then, consumers have continued to snub plastic bags at the checkout, reports the Tages Anzeiger newspaper.

Consumers either take their own bags shopping or buy environmentally-friendly cellulose versions.

Supermarket chain Migros has sold 3.3 million cellulose bags and Coop two million, the newspaper reports.

But Switzerland remains one of the world’s worst polluters, with each person consuming 127 kilograms per year on average.

A large part of the problem lies with the continued use of plastic straws and cutlery. Every year, 5,000 tons of plastic end up in the environment.

+ Why Switzerland does not ban single use straws

Most plastic gets thrown away and is burned, according to the NGO Ocean Care.

“People don’t like it when they are forbidden from doing something,” University of St Gallen economics professor Johanna Gollnhofer told the Tages Anzeiger.

“It’s not enough to tell people that something is bad. You have to break their habits, or at least get them to question their consumption habits.”