The Single Use Carrier Bags Charges (England) Order SI 2015/776 came into force on 5 October 2015 and introduced a mandatory 5p charge for single-use carrier bags supplied by larger retailers. In a world that is increasingly more conscious about its use of single-use plastics, the news that plastic bag sales in the biggest supermarkets in England have fallen 90% since the introduction of the charge is most welcome.
In 2018-19, the biggest supermarkets (Asda, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose and the Co-op) sold 549 million single-use plastic bags. In the year before, they sold around one billion.
In addition, in 2014, before the charge came into force, the average customer used around 140 single-use bags a year. That figure has now fallen to 10 per year.
The charge for single-use bags has obviously been successful in causing a significant reduction in their use and therefore their disposal. However, there is a possibility that the charge could go further. Between December 2018 and February 2019, the Government consulted on a plan to raise the minimum price of bags to 10p, and apply the mandatory charge to all retailers, not just those with 250 or more employees.
Speaking about the latest statistics, new Environment Secretary Theresa Villiers said that they showed "a powerful demonstration that we are collectively calling time on being a throwaway society."
