The UK’s leading supermarkets have said that they are confident they will half the amount of plastic bags given to customer by April next year. According to the latest figures, both Asda and Waitrose have cut their plastic bag usage by 30% by moving bags under the counter so that customers had to ask for them.
The other main supermarkets have also seen a reduction of plastic bag usage, with Sainsbury’s showing a 28% cut and sales of reusable bags up by 200%. A Tesco’s spokesperson said that they have saved over 2 billion plastic bags since August 2006 and Morrisons’ states that its carrier bag usage in down 22%.
Last year the supermarkets agreed to cut the number of bags used by 25%, after dismissing plastic bag charges. It is estimated that UK retailers hand out almost 13 billion plastic bags for free a year, which can take up to 1000 years to decay in landfills.
Add A Comment