Shoppers in England will have to pay 5p per plastic carrier bag from today, in an attempt to cut the number of bags send to landfill every year and save £60 million in litter clean up costs alone.
England is the last part of the UK to introduce a charge for plastic bags and initially the scheme will exclude purchases such as uncooked meat, poultry or fish, prescription medicine, certain fresh produce such as flowers or potatoes, and unwrapped ready-to-eat food.
Use of plastic bags in Wales has dropped 71% since the 5p charge was introduced in 2011 and the government anticipates the reduction of their use in England to be as much as 80% in supermarkets, and by 50% on the High Street.
If you are getting food delivered from a major supermarket, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Tesco will give you the option of a bagless delivery, or a flat rate of 40p. Morrisons and Ocado are charging 5p for each bag used, but will pay 5p for every bag returned.
