Asda has come under fire after hiking the price of plastic bags by a staggering 66 per cent.
The price per bag has increased from 9p to 15p as the supermarket tries to encourage customers to reuse them rather than buy new ones.
The new initiative came into effect last month on July 15.
In a press statement released by the supermarket, Asda claimed to have stopped using single use bags from all stores last year and removed them from online orders on July 31 this year.
It read: "As a result, we'll have removed 375 million bags - around 2250 tonnes of plastic - from our business.
"This is in addition to the 6,500 tonnes of plastic we've removed from our own brand packaging over the last year."
Whilst the price has increased to 15p per bag, Asda promised to 'replace the broken bags for free if customers return them to us'.
Martin Sadler, 45, a shopper at Great Barford, told SunOnline: "The money supermarkets take from plastic bags is supposed to go to a good cause.
"But do we really know that is happening?"
One user commented on Twitter : "So Asda now charge 15p for a carrier bag, I have a feeling they must profiting from this now?
"I'm all for being against plastic but 15p is rediculous [sic]."
Another one said: "So now plastic bags are going up to 15p. That's cool. I'm all for it. But who does the money go to? Is it used for environmental preservation or does it go in Asda's back pocket?"
Asda explained in the press release: "We always want to offer our customers choice, but we also want to encourage them to reuse and recycle their plastic Bags for Life."
Asda's new plastic bag price is still cheaper than Morrisons, which charges 20p after putting up the price twice this year.
Tesco, Waitrose, Sinsbury's and Marks & Spencer are charging 10p for heavy-duty plastic bags.
