M&S cuts its plastic bag handout by astonishing 80% after ban

A ban on free plastic bags by Marks & Spencer has led to an astonishing 80 per cent cut in the number handed out.

The store chain made a landmark decision at the beginning of May to start charging 5p for the bags, to encourage a switch to green reusable alternatives.

Over the past ten weeks, 70million fewer have been handed out at its tills compared with the same period a year ago.

The success of the green initiative shames Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose, which are lobbying against a ban on throwaway bags.

Profits from the M&S charges, which have topped £200,000, are going to the charity Groundwork – which runs projects to create new parks and play areas.

The M&S scheme has the backing of all political parties and has given a huge boost to the Daily Mail’s Banish the Bags campaign.

The Government has given the rest of the High Street, specifically the Big Four supermarkets, until next April to adopt the M&S regime voluntarily.

If they fail to do so, the Government will force stores to adopt charges under proposals included in the Climate Change Bill, now going through Parliament.

Supermarkets claim that shoppers are not prepared to pay for plastic bags and make a green switch. The evidence from M&S shows this is not the case.

Britain’s fastest growing food stores, Aldi, Lidl and Netto, all charge for bags on the basis that it allows them to offer lower food prices.

And there is a groundswell of support on the issue. Already, stores such as Ikea, B&Q, Debenhams, Body Shop, Whole Foods Market and Oxfam have banned free plastic bags or are running trials on charges.

Shops in Britain hand out almost 13billion plastic bags every year. They are used for an average of just 20 minutes before being dumped in the bin.

Most end up in landfill sites where they can take up to 1,000 years to rot away, while others blight the landscape, harming wildlife and causing an eyesore.

M&S chairman Sir Stuart Rose said: ‘It is fair to say that the M&S carrier bag charging policy has provoked a lot of debate, but these figures show that the overwhelming majority of our customers support charging and are already helping us to make a huge difference by bringing their own bags in with them.’

China banned free throwaway bags in June, and the city of Los Angeles has voted for a ban, following a model in San Francisco.

Daily Mail, February 28, 2008

Other countries in Europe and places as far afield as Australia, Africa and India are acting on the issue.

Tesco also charges in Ireland - which introduced a ban on free bags in 2002. But chief executives of the big supermarkets attacked plans for a ban in a recent meeting with Environment Secretary Hilary Benn.

Critics fear the stores will try to use their financial muscle to bully Mr Benn and the Government into dropping the green initiative.