Scots will have to pay double the price for a single-use carrier bag from today.
All retailers must now charge 10p instead of the previous 5p for a plastic carrier bag at supermarkets and shops up and down in the country.
It is the first time that the charge has gone up since the scheme was introduced in Scotland from October 2014.
Figures show that there was a 80% reduction in the number of plastic bags given out during the first year of the new law being in place - which is thought to have prevented the use of 650 million bags.
The number of plastic carrier bags being found on Scotland’s beaches dropped by 40% two years in a row with a further drop of 42% recorded between 2018 and 2019.
Other steps have also been taken in recent years to reduce plastic waste in Scotland - such as the ban on the sale of plastic stemmed cotton buds.
A number of supermarkets have also pledged to reduce the use of single use plastics in stores across the country over the coming years.
The move to double the charge on single-use carrier bags in Scotland has been welcomed by environmental groups.
Friends of the Earth Scotland Plastic and Circular Economy Campaigner Sarah Moyes said: “Plastic bags are a vivid symbol of our throwaway culture and this small change will help to further reduce the number of plastic bags which end up littering our streets, burning in incinerators or sitting in landfill for hundreds of years.
“The huge success of the charge so far in cutting plastic waste shows the important of targeted Government action in protecting the environment.
“The plastic industry opposed these moves but time has once again shown them to be in the wrong.”
The Scottish Government’s Environment and Climate Change Secretary Roseanna Cunningham recently praised the move.
She said: “The Scottish Government is committed to building back a greener society so by further reducing our reliance on single use items, we are taking positive steps to limit our impact on the climate and the environment.”
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