An island-wide levy on plastic bags issued by ’large retailers’ could be in place by the end of the year.

The idea of a plastic bag levy was mooted as an early UNESCO biosphere project and discussed at a meeting of the ’stakeholder partnership group’.

Pressed by Bill Shimmins (Middle, pictured) on whether proposals to introduce the levy could be in place before the end of this year, Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture member Tim Baker told the House of Keys: ’We will update by October, which means that there is a possibility that the actual implementation could start in this calendar year, but we would need to look at the detailed implications before I could commit to that.’

A newly formed Ecosystem Policy Team, using DEFA experts, will draw up the detailed proposals, which will be put out to wider consultation.

David Ashford (Douglas North) pointed out a number of the larger retail chains already had a levy in place and the money went into a ’central pot’ of the business involved.

He asked: ’If the levy is to stay on-island, has the department looked at how feasible it is for the large retailers to separate out what is raised by the Isle of Man store?’

Mr Baker replied: ’The detailed implementation arrangements clearly need to be discussed with those who are going to be affected.

’A number of these retailers do already have schemes in place and a number of them already do donate to charities on the island and adjacent jurisdictions.’

A levy of 5p per plastic bag has been charged in England since October 2015.