Tesco will only hand out plastic bags if customers ask for one

Tesco is to put plastic bags under the counter at some of its largest stores and will only hand them out if customers ask for them.

The supermarket giant has so far resisted Government pressure to reduce the billions of throwaway carriers it hands out.

But last night it announced it will no longer hand them at check-outs in its Tesco Extra hypermarkets.

Bags at these stores will still be handed out for free to customers if they specifically ask for them.

Following the Daily Mail's 'Banish the Bags' campaign to ban free carriers, Gordon Brown called on retailers to support a system of charges for single-use bags which could persuade customers to shop with reusable alternatives.

Although people will not be charged for plastic bags, they will be encouraged to bring their own previously used bags from home.

A spokesman for Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, confirmed that a pilot scheme was in operation in some stores across Britain and that other outlets were likely to follow suit.

The tentative move comes a few weeks after the Government announced that stores will have to cut the number of bags handed out by 70 per cent by next spring.

Firms have been warned that if they fail to implement their own policies voluntarily they will be forced to stop handing out free throwaway bags.

Instead stores would be required to charge for the bags in a drive to encourage customers to switch to reusable alternatives.

The tough stance follows Marks & Spencer's introduction of a 5p charge for bags which brought an 80 per cent cut in the number handed out at tills.

However, the Government's plans are opposed by the big four supermarkets - Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons - which are demanding the right to continue distributing free throwaway bags.

The majority of plastic bags end up in landfill where they can take up to 1,000 years to rot, while others blight the landscape and seas, sometimes harming wildlife

Meanwhile, demand for plastic bags has fallen by 95 per cent in National Trust shops after it introduced a 5p charge.

The charge was brought in to help cut the waste and harm caused by such throwaway bags, which are given away in their billions by retailers.

The National Trust is among a coalition of groups and political parties which have thrown their weight behind the Daily Mail's Banish the Bags campaign.

Many firms charge 5p per plastic bag in a bid to help cut waste

The National Trust charge, introduced in Scotland at the end of April and in the rest of the country in May, has been even more successful.

It says the number of bags issued in its 250 outlets during the first 100 days of the charge is down by 95 per cent, or 325,000, on the same period last year.

Spokesman Stuart Richards said: 'We've had a fantastic response since we introduced a charge for all plastic carrier bags.

'Sales of our jute bags have rocketed and we've noticed a big jump in the number of customers reusing their own bags.'

Before the charge was introduced National Trust shops would give away 1.25million bags every year.

Other organisations, including Ikea, B&Q, Debenhams, Body Shop, Help the Aged, Whole Foods Market and Oxfam, have banned free plastic bags or are running trials on charging.

The 33 local authorities in London are sponsoring a Bill through Parliament that will allow them to impose charges or a ban.

Gordon Brown, as well as Conservative leader David Cameron and LibDem leader Nick Clegg, are all supporting the Banish the Bags campaign.

Major retailers have pledged to reduce the environmental harm of their plastic bags by 25 per cent by the end of this year.

But Government ministers have made clear that unless retailers can voluntarily deliver a reduction of 70 per cent in the 13billion handed out each year they will require stores to bring in charges.