Plastic bag charge is considered

People could be charged for plastic bags in all shops

The new environment minister Edwin Poots has said he will consider introducing a levy on plastic bags in shops in Northern Ireland.

This week the Welsh Assembly announced proposals which could see shops charge up to 15p for a single use plastic bag.

Shops and supermarkets in NI currently encourage people not to use plastic bags, but it's a voluntary arrangement.

Mr Poots said if this arrangement was not working, he would start making people pay for the bags.

Spar announced on Thursday that a number of its stores in Northern Ireland would begin a three-month trial scheme of charging 5p for regular plastic bags next week.

ASDA will only hand out bags on request, resulting in a 50% reduction over the past six months.

Tesco and Sainsbury reward their customers who do not use plastic bags with loyalty or clubcard points.

Tesco has said it has reduced use by 50%, saving an estimated 100 million bags, since it launched its scheme in July 2006

Sainsbury said it has reduced plastic bag use by 58%.

Marks and Spencer already charges customers 5p for bags.

A 15 cents levy introduced in the Republic of Ireland in 2002 has seen a 90% reduction in the number of plastic bags being used.

Mr Poots said he will initially consider a similar levy in Northern Ireland at the end of July.