5p charge for supermarket carrier bags due to come into force

The Government has already issued a rule book for retailers on when they will and won’t have to charge – but it contains a few loopholes, which we list below.

She appreciates it may be hard for smaller shops to adopt a 5p charge and appreciates their exemption. Following the introduction of the charge, the Government expects to see a reduction of up to 80 per cent in the use of single-use carrier bags in supermarkets and 50 per cent on the high street in England, as well as £60m saved in litter clean-up costs and £730 million generated for good causes.

The 5p charge is now in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the scheme in Wales seeing a reduction in bag consumption of 79% in the first three years.

· Morrisons is set to use the proceeds to support good causes, chiefly the Morrisons Foundation and their national charity partner Sue Ryder.

Here’s what you need to know about the changes. For once, the Government has introduced a sensible law, which will make most people think twice before binning their bags and having to fork out five pence for new bag, especially us Yorkshire folks!.

Almost two-thirds of people support the 5p charge for plastic bags that starts next Monday in England, according to a poll.

It is estimated 8 billion single-use carrier bags used across the United Kingdom each year, the equivalent of 57,000 tonnes of plastic waste.

Takeaway food “chips, or food sold in containers not secure enough to prevent leakage during normal handling” can be carried home in a plastic bag free.

Unwrapped blades, including axes, knives, and knife and razor blades Prescription medicine Live aquatic creatures in water.

Yes. There will not be a charge for paper bags or bags from shops in airports or on trains, aircraft or ships. And despite government guidance that the money raised should be donated to good causes, it has emerged that the legislation that introduced the 5p charge does not state that the money should be donated to charity at all, and there is no legal requirement on stores to hand over the cash raised.

Where will the money from the charges go to?

Returnable multiple reuse bags (bags for life).

The initiative appears to have the support of the majority of shoppers in England, with 62% thinking it is reasonable to charge 5p for all carrier bags – a 6% increase on 2012, a poll for the Break the Bag Habit coalition of litter charities found.

The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) said it was encouraging its members in England to introduce their own voluntary charging schemes wherever practical.

But the latest survey found 51 per cent were in support of an even more comprehensive scheme that extended the charge to all retailers.

Sam Lowe, resource-use campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “The main benefit of a 5p plastic bag charge is that it will reduce waste through cutting down on the amount of one-use bags created, and change how shoppers and stores view how they use plastic bags”.