image source: www.varldenidag.se https://tinyurl.com/ydtk2a8t
The tax on plastic bags was, at first, a relatively obscure item listed in the January Agreement (2019) between the Social Democratic, Green, Center, and Liberal parties. But it did not remain obscure. Instead, a heated debate on the pros and cons of plastic grocery bags took place. The tax’s enaction was both celebrated and hated. Now, it might be going away again.
Good or bad?
In the debate, many argued that the grocery bags sold at the checkout counter were basically always reused as trash bags. Others argued that Sweden didn’t have the problem that the tax was supposed to address – plastic bags blowing around and polluting the seas, oceans, streets and forests. Numbers telling consumers how many times reusable bags needed to be used until they “made up for their manufacture” added to the debate. Whether for the environment, or for the income, the tax went into effect in June of 2000.
The tax had an immediate impact on consumption. When grocery bags began to cost seven kronor or more, sales of plastic bags to pack groceries in dropped over 80%. On the other hand, according to Wikipedia, sales of paper bags in grocery stores went up about 70%. Nine of ten Swedes said they were now bringing their own bags to the store. Sales of plastic bag rolls went up 75%.
Regardless of how much it did or did not do for the environment, the tax effectively put a damper on the sale of plastic bags at checkout – and the expected tax windfall. Expressen reported that in 2020, at least, the state received nearly two billion kronor less than what it had expected to take in. SVT reports, however, that the tax drew in more than twice as much last year – meaning that more people bought bags last year than had previously.
Not so fast
The Sweden Democratic party has now gone out and stated not only that the plastic bag tax was never effective, but that it will go away in the new year. Minister for Climate and the Environment Romina Pourmokhtari, of the Liberal party, was quick to counter. The plastic bag tax will only be evaluated, she said. A decision will only be taken “during the fall budget negotiations.”
Sweden’s climate goals are already a friction point between the government and its support party, the Sweden Democrats. The plastic bag tax might seem unimportant in the larger scheme of things, but it symbolizes the conflict well.