UK Government: Plastic bag sales down 86 percent across “big seven” supermarkets

30 Jul 2018 --- Plastic bag sales in England’s “big seven” supermarkets have dropped by 86 percent since the introduction of the 5p plastic bag charge in 2015 according to the UK Government. New figures compiled by the UK Government reveal customers of the country’s biggest supermarkets bought nearly a quarter fewer plastic bags last year compared to 2016/17 – a decrease of nearly 300 million bags. The charge was introduced to help tackle the impacts of plastic waste pollution in the environment.

This is equivalent to just 19 bags per person in England annually, compared to 140 bags per person annually from before the introduction of the 5p charge in 2015 – a considerable reduction of 86 percent, the UK Government reports.

The “big seven” supermarkets consist of Asda, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury, The Co-operative Group, Tesco and Waitrose.

Welcoming the figures, Environment Secretary Michael Gove says: “These figures demonstrate the collective impact we can make to help the environment by making simple changes to our daily routines. We want businesses to continue to look at what they can do to help improve our environment to leave it in a better state than we found it.”

“It is only by working together we will reverse the rising tide of plastic waste finding its way into our rivers, seas and oceans and the catastrophic impact this is having on our marine environment,” he adds.

Plastic bags have a significant impact on the environment. Government scientists believe plastic in the sea is set to treble in a decade unless marine litter is curbed – with one million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals dying every year from eating and getting tangled in plastic waste, the UK Government reports.

A recent study by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) revealed that since the 5p charge on plastic bags was introduced, which has taken over 9 billion plastic bags out of circulation, there has been an estimated 50 percent reduction in plastic bag marine litter.

Thomas Maes, Marine Litter Scientist at Cefas comments: “Every plastic bag not purchased is one which will not end up in our sea, damaging habitats or harming marine life. Since efforts from across Europe came into effect, including the UK’s 5p charge, we have observed a sharp decline in the percentage of plastic bags captured by fishing nets on our trawl surveys of the seafloor around the UK as compared to 2010.”

“It is encouraging to see the efforts to reduce plastic bag usage by all of society, whether the public, industry, NGOs or government. These figures show that by working together we can tackle the marine litter problem by reducing, reusing and recycling,” he adds.

The UK Government has recently announced a range of measures to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste including a ban on microbeads, proposals to extend the 5p plastic bag charge and initiatives to explore plastic-free aisles in supermarkets.

Earlier this year the UK Government announced their intention to ban the sale of plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds and plans for a deposit return scheme to increase recycling rates of drinks bottles and cans. They also launched a call for evidence on using the tax system or charges to address single-use plastic waste.

The Government figures also reveal that for 2017/18 5p plastic bag sales contributed nearly £60m (US$79m) toward charities and other good causes.