Plastic bag sales have risen for the first time in 10 years on the back of the so-called Ocado effect as online food shops and ultra-fast deliveries replace supermarket trips.
Shoppers in England bought 437m single-use plastic carrier bags last year, compared with 407m the year before, a rise of 7%, according to data from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
It is the first time sales have gone up since 2015, when the government introduced a 5p charge on single-use plastic bags in England. The 5p charge was paused during the pandemic but rose to 10p in 2021.
The waste charity Wrap told the Sunday Times, which first reported the figures, that the growth of online grocery shopping and the way orders were packed had contributed to the increase in bag sales.
Ocado sold more plastic bags than any other supermarket, at 221m, an increase of 30m on 2023, which the company put down to having more customers.
Co-op was in second place, at 94m, although the retailer pointed out that its carrier bags are 100% compostable. Morrisons sold 58m and Sainsbury’s 11m.
Both Ocado and Morrisons said customers could recycle their bags by giving them back to the delivery driver. Ocado said 89% of customers did this to get a refund ; the Morrisons return rate is 88%.
Although the introduction of a levy led to a sharp fall in sales of plastic bags, from more than 7.6bn, there are concerns that the data indicates the country is moving in the wrong direction.
The rise in plastic bags sales comes amid broader worries about plastic pollution. The amount of plastic waste collected on beaches rose by 9.5% in 2024 compared with 2023, according to a report by the Marine Conservation Society.
The report found that nearly half (46%) of plastic waste was from public sources, with household litter washing into seas through rivers, drainage and sewage outlets, or blown or dropped on to the coastline.
Sainsbury’s, which sold an additional 2.5m bags in 2024, said the rise was because of the growth in “on-demand” deliveries through apps such as Just Eat. It has switched to using paper bags so it expects single-use bag sales to drop sharply.
A Morrisons spokesperson said that in more than 50% of postcodes it now delivers groceries in a small crate, which the customer unpacks and hands back to the driver on the doorstep.
A Defra spokesperson said the government was “committed to cutting our reliance on plastics and figures since the ban came into force show the plastic bag charge is effective”.
A spokesperson for Ocado said: “Our approach to deliveries is designed to minimise emissions and waste, while keeping customer orders efficient and products in excellent condition from warehouse to doorstep. We were the first retailer to introduce a closed-loop recycling system for plastic bags in 2015, allowing customers to return plastic bags to us – from any retailer – in exchange for a refund, and our current refund rate in bag hand-back is 89%. Returned bags are recycled and used to produce new bags within our closed-loop system.”
