In the States on Tuesday, a number of politicians called on the minister to be brave and lead the way in Europe by banning plastic bags – an idea that was met with a stamping of feet from some within the Assembly.
Countries such as Australia, the Seychelles and islands in the Caribbean have already introduced their own bans.
Environment Minister John Young said he would ‘sign such an order tomorrow’ if it were up to him, but the matter was more complex and would require a number of ministers to work together.
As a result he said he intended to take the matter to the Council of Ministers for discussion.
‘This is a matter I will be discussing with the Council of Ministers, particularly as part of the future waste strategy,’ he said in response to the question from Deputy Inna Gardiner.
‘It is an open secret that we absolutely desperately need to do more about waste reduction and plastic is pretty much number one,’ he added.
Deputy Jess Perchard asked the minister: ‘If the minister was to ban plastic bags tomorrow, what is the worst that could happen?’
Deputy Rob Ward added: ‘Be brave. The population just needs to deal with that fact and find another way to carry their shopping.’
Deputy Montfort Tadier urged the minister to look at not just bags but all plastic packaging used in Jersey, as did Deputy Jeremy Maçon, who asked the minister to look specifically at disposable coffee cup lids.
But Deputy Mike Higgins urged the minister to look at the issue more widely in order to ‘take Islanders with us’ as opposed to just imposing sanctions.
Deputy Young said he would work on the matter and discuss it with ministerial colleagues, particularly the Home Affairs Minister, who would be responsible for any import ban, the Economic Development Minister and the Infrastructure Minister, who is responsible for waste disposal.
