> Foreign governments have started to take action specifically on plastic
> carriers, some going much further than Britain's retailers and their aim for a
> voluntary 25% reduction in bag use by 2008. Ireland, for example, introduced a
> 15p "plastax" on carrier bags way back in 2002, which has subsequently led to a
> 90% reduction in use.
First, it's 15 cents, not 15p. You'd think even the Grauniad could get that one right.
The plastic bag levy ("plastax" never caught on here) did lead initially to a massive reduction in consumption of the bags, at least as measured by how many of them were recorded as having been distributed by retailers - many of whom have simply ignored the regulations - and by the amount of tax revenue raised from their sale.
The numbers are starting to creep up again, which is usually taken as evidence of consumers' increasing willingness to pay the levy, although it could simply be a consequence of the rapidly increasing population here. In any case, the levy is going up later this year to 22 cents per bag, to try to bring the numbers down again.
As far as I'm aware there has been no parallel levy on manufacturers for the unnecessary use of plastic in packaging.