The number of plastic bags being sold in supermarkets has dropped by 90 per cent since the 5p was introduced in 2015.
The government is celebrating the new figures, saying that England is "calling time on being a throwaway society".
However, the levy does not to small businesses, which are giving out millions of plastic bags every day, reports Perspecs.
The Claim
The "powerful" 5p levy on plastic bags in England has been praised by the government.
Environment secretary Theresa Villiers has welcomed the new figures, saying that the plastic bag levy is delivering the results.
She said: "Our comprehensive action to slash plastic waste and leave our environment in a better state continues to deliver results, with our 5p charge reducing plastic bag sales by 90 per cent in the big supermarkets.
"No one wants to see the devastating impact plastic waste is having on our precious wildlife.
"Today’s figures are a powerful demonstration that we are collectively calling time on being a throwaway society."
The government also described their wider action to tackle plastic waste, saying that the UK "continues to be a global leader in cracking down on plastic waste to protect seas, oceans and marine life".
The Counterclaim
However, small shops are still handing out two million plastic bags every day, the Independent reports.
Businesses with fewer than 250 employees are currently exempt from the 5p plastic bag levy.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) wants to double the levy to 10p and extend it to small shops.
However, they plan to do this from January 2020 - and every day they wait and delay action, millions of plastic bags are entering circulation.
Small businesses handed out 3.6 billion plastic bags in 2017 - compared to 1.7 billion sold in major retailers in 2017-18.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble, a government environment minister, said that increasing the charge to 10p could see small businesses handing out 23 per cent fewer bags in the first year, and 80 per cent within three years.
The Facts
According to figures from DEFRA, the average person now buys 10 bags a year from the big seven UK supermarkets - Asda, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, the Co-op, Tesco, and Waitrose.
This is down from 140 when they were free before 2015.
Plastic bag use in supermarkets has almost halved in just one year. The supermarkets sold 549 million single-use plastic bags in 2018/19 - this is down from the 1.04 billion bags sold in the previous year.
In 2014, a year before the levy was introduced, the waste reduction charity Wrap estimated that the seven supermarkets had used 7.64 billion bags over the full year.
