Morrisons has become the UK’s first supermarket to completely ban plastic bags in all stores.
The grocer said it hopes to cut back on 3,200 tonnes of plastic a year by removing its ‘bags for life’, following the withdrawal of single use plastic bags in 2017.
Instead, customers will be able to purchase a 30p paper bag which the grocer said is recyclable, water resistant, and can hold up to 16kg.
Paper bags will be available alongside other reusable options including string, jute, cotton and reusable woven bags, priced between 75p and £2.50. Alternatively, customers can being their own carrier bags.
The removal of plastic ‘bags for life’ will begin in Scotland this month, followed by England and Wales over the course of the next year.
Almost 100million plastic bags will be removed in total, equivalent to 1.9million a week.
David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons said: “We have been listening hard to our customers over the past year and we know that they are passionate about doing their bit to keep plastics out of the environment. Removing all of the plastic bags from our supermarkets is a significant milestone in our sustainability programme.”
Customers who order their shopping online will also receive their delivery without plastic bags in cases where the order is packed in a Morrisons store.
Single use 5p carrier bags were removed from Morrisons in 2018 but some customers continue to buy 50p plastic ‘bags for life’, which are considered stronger and thicker.
Since 2017 Morrisons said it has removed and made recyclable over 10,000 tonnes of plastic.
In 2014, 7.6billion bags were given away to customers at England's seven largest supermarkets, the equivalent of 140 per member of the population.
However, since the plastic bag tax was introduced in 2015, an estimated 15billion bags have been taken out of circulation, government figures show.
The average person in England now buys just four bags a year from the main supermarkets, compared with 140 in 2014.
Dr Laura Foster, Head of Clean Seas at the Marine Conservation Society said: “Since the introduction of the 5p carrier bag charge we’ve seen a more than 60% drop in the number of plastic bags on the UK’s beaches.”
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, a minimum of 5p for plastic bags applies across all retailers.
The law was introduced first in Wales in 2011, then in Northern Ireland in 2013, before Scotland introduced the charge for all carrier bags in 2014.
England rolled out its plastic bag charge on October 5, 2015.
