Shoppers’ use of plastic carrier bags in England has continued to fall – by 59% in the last year alone – since the introduction of the 5p charge, according to recent figures. Overall, sales of single-use plastic carrier bags have dropped by more than 95% in England’s main supermarkets since the charge was introduced in October 2015, government data reveals.
In the past 12 months, Asda, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, the Co-operative Group, Tesco and Waitrose sold 226m bags – 322m fewer than in 2018-19. The average person in England now buys just four bags a year from the main supermarket retailers, compared with 10 last year and 140 in 2014, according to the data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
The 5p charge was introduced in England to help reduce litter, protect wildlife and influence consumer behaviour after the number of carrier bags given out by the seven major supermarkets rose by 200m in 2014. At the time, consumers were using more than 7.6bn bags a year, amounting to 61,000 tonnes of plastic. The charge applies to all retailers employing more than 250 people, although the government has consulted on extending this to all businesses as well as raising the minimum charge to 10p.
Source: Guardian
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