DURING my trips home over the course of the last year or so, I have been able to witness how something which was initially incredibly unpopular has become just a way of life.

The plastic bag tax was introduced in Northern Ireland in April 2013, charging shoppers at least 5p per single use carrier bag.

There were plans to raise the levy to 10p but these have been abandoned as the 5p levy is proving so successful – supermarkets have reported an 80 per cent reduction in the use of plastic bags.  

I first noticed something different because the bag holder at our back door – a large fabric sausage shape into which we squished them for re-use in small household rubbish bins – was looking a little flat and forlorn.

A few trips later, it was completely empty, and I can’t imagine that it will hang there much longer.

Then I spotted the bags for life dotted all around the place, on counters and in the car boot. When I decided to pop up to the shop, mum and dad both said ‘have you got a bag?’ in unison, not anything they’d have thought to remind me previously.

When the tax was introduced at the beginning, I heard people talk ridiculously about their human right to a carrier bag when making a purchase. But now that they have calmed down, I think that the undeniable sense of the scheme has won the day.  

As I walked towards the large supermarket near our home recently, I saw that almost every single person who got out of their car was carrying a few strong bags under their arm.

In town, in fashion stores, people who clearly wanted to exercise their right to pay for a bag arrived at the checkout armed with their 5p pieces. But everywhere you looked, the vast majority were toting large receptacles.

It was great to see, as I am already a convert re this issue – plastic bags are a dreadful component of our pollution of the natural environment, and we should embrace a sensible, practical alternative.

Our boot contains lots of strong bags which I can grab when out and about, and I keep a strong cotton tote (a bag for life from a supermarket in Venice) in my handbag in the event of impulse purchasing.

I suspect that this charge was introduced in the six counties as a little test run, and it’s inevitable in our futures in England – it will come into effect after the 2015 election, with the money raised going to charity.

What is a matter of good sense will soon be a matter of law, too.