Excess baggage: will the 5p charge finally kill the plastic bag?

On Monday, English shoppers join the rest of the UK in having to pay for carrier bags. That's great in theory, but a mess of confusing exemptions makes it hard to predict the impact

How many plastic bags have you got at home? I ask because I have just counted mine. They are sprawled across the kitchen table, my own personal, slippery, shiny bag mountain built from my own personal landfill site, otherwise known as the cupboard under the stairs. And they just keep coming. It is almost magic, the way you can go on pulling plastic bag out of plastic bag out of plastic bag, like rabbits from a hat. There are 82 in total. I didn't know I liked department stores quite so much. Or, judging by the dozen blue bags from the corner shop, that I ate so many frozen desserts: they're just too cold to carry in bare hands.

Slowly but surely, this bag mountain is going to shrink and slide. On Monday, anyone in England who shops at a retailer that employs 250 or more full-time members of staff nationwide will have to pay 5p for a single-use carrier bag. The charge will apply in all kinds of outlets, from fashion chains to DIY stores as well as supermarkets. There are a few exemptions, such as aquatic creatures - though it would be interesting to watch people get goldfish home without a bag. But mostly, this is the start of a new life. One in which you must remember your own reusable bags every time you go shopping, or pay.