THE majority of people in Wales looked on in bemusement last week as England reacted to the carrier bag charge being introduced.

“Plastic bags chaos looms” read one national newspaper headline while Twitter hashtag #plasticbagchaos began trending over Twitter.

And while most of the hysteria – excluding the Daily Mail - was tongue-in-cheek, the carrier bag charge will take some getting used to for shoppers across the border.

Environmentalists are the main propellants of the scheme, which aims to not only prevent plastic bags ending up as litter or marine pollution where they can be harmful to wildlife but also to reduce the use of plastic.

Just days before the charge was introduced in England on Monday, October 5, Wales celebrated its four year anniversary of the levy which was brought in in 2011.

But, unlike Wales, England’s charge is a little more complicated.

Retailers with 250 or more full-time equivalent employees will have to charge a minimum of 5p for the bags they provide for shopping in stores and for deliveries, but smaller shops and paper bags are not included.

Because of this, some campaigners have warned England’s charge will not be as successful as Wales’, Scotland’s or Norther Ireland’s.

But the government still expects the scheme to reduce the use of single-use carrier bags by up to 80 per cent in supermarkets, and 50 per cent on the high street.

It is also expected to save £60 million in litter clean-up costs and generate £730 million for good causes.

Across England, heads turned to Wales to see how they had fared following the introduction of the charge four years ago.

It was mainly good news to report back. Since 2011, new figures have shown plastic bag usage in Wales has dropped by more than 70 per cent, similar to significant drops in Scotland and Northern Ireland, while usage in England has risen by more than a fifth.

It is clear the figures show the scheme in Wales has been a success story.

But aside from the bag usage itself, scrapping free carrier bags in Wales has helped raise more than £17million for good causes in the last four years.

A report commissioned by the Welsh Government found between £17 million and £22 million has been raised in total, with the money going to good causes across Wales.

Many projects in Gwent have benefitted.

Wales’s Natural Resources Minister Carl Sargeant said the introduction of the charge had led to a “significant shift in consumer behaviour” and important benefits to the environment.

Earlier this year he said: “I am pleased that almost four years on from the introduction of the charge in Wales, consumer habits appear to be changing which is having a positive knock on effect on the environment as well as raising a significant amount of money for good causes," he said.

The types of Gwent groups which have benefitted from the charge are varied.

In April this year, the Gwent Wildlife Trust launched two exciting training events to educate the public on how to survey for the area’s rarest wetland mammals – all funded by the Co-operative’s carrier bag charge.

The Wetland Mammals Project provided training to volunteers in how to survey for water voles, Britain’s fastest declining wild mammal, and the otter.

It was backed by the Co-operative’s Welsh Wildlife Heroes campaign which is run by Wildlife Trusts Wales and funded entirely by the money collected from the single-use carrier bag charge in The Co-operative food stores in Wales.

And in September, Ynysddu Primary school in Caerphilly county borough was awarded a £500 grant which it put towards an environmental project.

The money came from the All Wales Grant scheme, created by Keep Wales Tidy and Tesco and funded by Tesco’s single-use carrier bag charge.

The aim of the scheme is to assist communities across Wales both financially and practically to help improve their local environment.

Ynysddu used the money to buy equipment for its interactive bee hive project with the Sirhowy Valley Honeybee Company and Caerphilly County Borough Council.

It will mean pupils from every junior school in Caerphilly county borough can visit and take part in an interactive hive inspection.

Councillor Ken James, cabinet member for regeneration, planning and sustainable development said the “generous financial contribution” will go “a long way” to developing the interactive bee hive project.

He said: “It will be an excellent resource to educate children across Caerphilly county borough.”

Also benefitting from the All Wales Grant scheme was Cwm Community Care, who reinstated a community orchard in an area of land left largely barren since the 1960s.

The money was given thanks to Tesco's single-use carrier bag levy.

In July last year, Sainsbury’s also donated a £5,000 share of its plastic carrier charge to the learning development unit at St Julian’s School.

And then in November last year , Sainsbury’s store in Cwmbran raised £1863.02 for local charity St David’s Hospice Care through the sale of the carrier bags.

The money, just made by small customer changes, will make “such a difference to our patients and their families”, a spokeswoman from the hospice said.

In Caldicot, Waitrose donated its 5p plastic carrier bag charges across Wales to the Gwent Wildlife Trust in June last year, to clear areas at Magor Marsh.

Even the discount stores are getting in on the act.

Poundland in Newport raised more than £5,000 for Cancer Research Wales just by selling their 5p carrier bags.

Cancer Research Wales’ fundraising manager, Laura Priddle, said the money raised by the store will contribute to the charity’s pioneering research projects in Wales.

Perhaps one of the more impressive stories of how good causes have benefitted is the charity Bee Friendly Monmouthshire who received £12,014.77 from Waitrose Caldicot.

In May this year the charity, which works with Monmouthshire council to boost the number of insects living in green spaces in the county, won a share of money collected by Welsh branches’ carrier bag charges over the last year.

In Wales, £36,044.31 was spent on the bags and for the second consecutive year Caldicot’s branch was again one of the chain's stores chosen to receive a share of the money.

For now, England can only look on to see the advantages the carrier bag has brought Wales over the last year. Only time will tell whether England will reap the same benefits.

PANEL: What does Gwent think of the charge? On the streets of Newport, this is what people said:

Alex West, 21, from Newport, said: "I think charging money for a measly bit of plastic is an absolute joke, it's a rip off. I have a bag for life, but like many other people, I don't carry it round with me 24/7. Why should we have to pay for a bag? I just don't get it.

"I don't think it will make a difference to the environment, it's a plastic bag."

Louis Herron, 20, from Newport, said: “If I remember to bring a bag, I will – otherwise I’ll have to pay. I don’t know how much of a difference it will make.”

70-year-old Colin Taylor, from Rogerstone, said: “It stops plastic bags rolling around the roads.

“It won’t make any difference to me at all. I’m quite happy to pay.”

Giuseppe Iannello, 33, from Newport, said: “I usually bring my bag with me and try to remember. If not, I pay 5p.”

And Raja, 70, from Swansea, who did not wish to give his second name, said: “They said that they want to charge so that people will realise that they need to bring their own bags.

“It’s not an inconvenience, it’s a good thing.”

Barry Darnborough, 72, from London, said: "Plastic bags are a nuisance. I always leave my bag for life at home, so when I do, I have to pay 5p for a bag that I'm never going to use again.

"I think however they are good for the environment as it will lead to more people buying a bag for life."