Use of plastic bags in England drops by 59% in a year

Single-use carrier bag sales drop by 95% since 5p charge introduced in 2015

People in England have continued to use fewer plastic bags since the 5p charge was introduced in 2015 (Getty Images)

Sales of single use plastic carrier bags in England have fallen by 59 per cent in the last 12 months, the latest figures have revealed.

The main retailers – including Asda, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, The Co-operative Group, Tesco and Waitrose – who collectively account for over half of total plastic carrier bag sales, reported a drop of 95 per cent since the government introduced the 5p charge in 2015.

This represents a decrease of 322 million bags from 2019 to 2020. While all of the main retailers saw a reduction, Asda and Tesco saw the biggest drops of 86.8 million (81 per cent) and 79.6 million (65 per cent) respectively.

Each person in the populations using four plastic bags from main retailers in 2019 to 2020, compared to 10 bags in 2018 to 2019. In 2014, each person was using 140 bags before the charge was introduced.

The data published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) collected information from 194 retailers, 27 fewer retailers than the previous year. The difference was a result of a number of retailers being unable to provide data due to the coronavirus pandemic, which led to staff being furloughed and store closures.

Environment secretary George Eustice said: “It is so encouraging to see in such a short space of time the huge difference our plastic carrier bag charge has had in reducing the amount of plastic we use in our everyday lives.

“We have all seen firsthand the devastating impact that plastic bags have on the environment, littering our beautiful countryside and threatening the world’s marine life. I am committed to driving this progress further and I hope this continues to inspire similar action across the globe.”

But environmental campaigners warn that although the figures sound positive, sales of ‘bags for life’ rose to 1.5 billion in 2018. Large retailers are not required to report on carrier bag use if they only distribute paper bags and bags for life, said Defra.

“Bags for life contain more plastic than carrier bags do,” said Sam Chetan Welsh, a political campaigner at Greenpeace.

“To deter people from using bags for life like throwaways, the government should increase the cost of bags for life, which successfully led to decreased sales in the Republic of Ireland, or ideally should ban them.

“But this is just the start. With UK supermarkets using 900,000 tonnes of plastic, we urgently need reductions in plastic packaging across every aisle of the supermarket, as well as at checkout.

“Whilst today’s figures are a step in the right direction, the government shouldn’t congratulate itself too much until this hard work is done,” he added.