Plastic bag tax raises more than £2m for Northern Ireland environment

Twenty four environmental projects are to get more than £2m raised through the plastic bag tax in the past year.

Five pence is levied on every carrier bag and it has raised £2.2m for an environment fund. The levy was introduced in 2013.

It will help with work including maintaining butterfly habitat, bird and bat monitoring and supporting bees and other pollinators.

The grants range from £6,000 to £250,000.

Environment Minister Edwin Poots said it showed how "innovative and simple solutions" could have big benefits.

"I want to see even more practical measures that will make a real difference and ensure we leave our environment in an even better shape than we found it," he said.

The money was welcomed by Craig McGuckian of Northern Ireland Environment Link, an umbrella body for environmental organisations.

"This funding provides essential support to our environmental NGOs, helping to deliver on-the-ground action, as well as allowing for long term planning," he said.

"At a time when public concern and interest in environmental matters is at a high, this is welcome news."

When the carrier bag levy was introduced, 300 million single-use plastic bags were being issued a year in Northern Ireland.

That figure has been cut by by more than two-thirds in the intervening five years with 98 million bags issued in 2017/18.

Now in its sixth year of operation, the plastic carrier bag levy has raised a total of £19m with the cash used to support environmental projects through the Environment Fund.