Plastic pollution: Morrisons will test 20p paper bags

Morrisons introduced a 20p reusable paper bag as part of an eight-week trial in eight of his stores.

The supermarket chain will also try to increase the cost of its reusable plastic bag to 15 pesos to reduce the amount of plastic used by customers.

Since the introduction of the tax on plastic bags, the use of bags by supermarket customers has been reduced by more than 85%.

Secretary of the Environment, Michael Gove, has organized a consultation on the rising cost of plastic bags in England.

The Morrisons trial will take place in several stores in England, Wales, Scotland and Gibraltar. The supermarket chain said plastics reduction was the main environmental concern for its customers.

But some retailers have warned that paper bags also come with their own environmental challenges.

Waitrose said he does not currently introduce a paper bag because "it can take three times more energy to make a paper bag than a plastic bag".

The production of paper bags consumes more energy and generates more CO2 emissions than the manufacture of plastic bags.

But paper breaks down much more quickly, while plastic can stay in the environment for hundreds of years, causing damage to animals and marine life.

How much does your supermarket charge for plastic bags?

• Asda, the co-op, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury & # 39; s charge a minimum of 5 points for a "one-time" carry bag
• Tesco charges 10 pence for its cheapest reusable bag, while Aldi and Lidl charge 9 for a similar product
• Waitrose says that she will replace her plastic fruit and vegetable transporters with a compostable domestic alternative by spring 2019 and that she intends to remove her 5p carrying bags from the circulation.

The 20p American style paper carrying bag has handles and a similar capacity to a plastic carrying bag.

Last June, Morrisons reintroduced small paper bags for fruits and vegetables in bulk, which prevent the use of 150 million small plastic bags each year.

The retailer added that removing 5-bag bags from its stores and replacing them with 10-bag reusable racks reduced bag sales at the supermarket by 25 per cent in 2018.

History of the load of the plastic bag

• The 5 pence tax for plastic bags was introduced first in Wales in 2011, then in Northern Ireland in 2013, before Scotland introduced the charge in 2014 and that England applies its charge for plastic bags on October 5, 2015.
• All retailers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales must charge a minimum of 5 pesos for a plastic bag.
• In England, only retailers with more than 250 employees must charge the use of plastic bags to customers.
• Retailers are expected to donate 5 pence to charities

In 2014, 7.6 billion bags were distributed to customers in England's seven largest supermarkets, equivalent to 140 per member of the population.

Between 2017 and 2018, just over one billion bags were sold in major UK supermarkets.

A new consultation could address the fees charged to small retailers by January 2020 and raise the minimum charge to 10 pence for a plastic bag.

The smallest retailers in England provide about 3.6 billion single-use bags a year.