Tesco accused of sabotaging first local ban on plastic bags

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The supermarket chain, which has a Tesco Express store alongside a host of small greengrocers, bakers and butchers in Newington Green, has refused to join a local campaign to persuade shoppers to replace the bags with reusable organic cotton sacks.

Almost 30 shops in the area have agreed to the ban, an idea put forward by resident Orlando Jopling and supported by Islington council, as well as the Newington Green Action Group and Hackney council.

But today Tesco told the ban's organisers its store would not participate because it "was against company policy".

Mr Jopling carried out a survey of local residents and found 94 per cent were in favour of the ban, with 66 per cent willing to buy a reusable bag to carry their shopping. "I had hoped this would be a catalyst for the whole of Islington and eventually the whole of London," he said.

A Tesco spokesman said: "Our company policy is carrot rather than stick so we would not want to force our customers to use alternative bags. We would rather encourage people to reuse the plastic carrier bags we provide by offering them incentives such as reward points."