Plastic bag usage in supermarkets down 90%

Use of disposable plastic bags in England’s main supermarkets has fallen by more than 90% since the introduction of a 5p charge in 2015.

According to new data, the average English shopper now uses just 10 bags a year, compared to 140 before the charge came in.

Asda, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, The Co-operative Group, Tesco and Waitrose sold 549m plastic bags in 2018-19, half the amount sold in the previous year.

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Additionally, retailers donated more than £22m to good causes from the proceeds of bag sales last year, bringing the total since the charge was introduced to £169m.

At the time the ban was brought in, “consumers were using more than 7.6bn bags a year, amounting to 61,000 tonnes of plastic”, The Guardian says.

Welcoming the news, Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers said the figures were “a powerful demonstration that we are collectively calling time on being a throwaway society”.

She added: “Our comprehensive action to slash plastic waste and leave our environment in a better state continues to deliver results, with our 5p charge reducing plastic bag sales by 90% in the big supermarkets. No one wants to see the devastating impact plastic waste is having on our precious wildlife.”

According to The Independent, “one million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals die every year from eating and getting tangled in plastic waste.”

Maddy Haughton-Boakes of the Campaign to Protect Rural England said the progress is “yet more evidence of the huge impact that a small financial incentive can have”.

However, she adds, more must be done. “Theresa Villiers must now build on this success by rolling it out to all small shops,” she says. “There is absolutely no reason the charge shouldn’t be applied to all bags, paper as well as plastic, to bring an end to the use of these single-use items altogether.”