Charges Introduced for Carrier Bags
Monday 3rd March 2008 The retailer Marks and Spencer have introduced a charge for customers in the South West who are shopping in their Food Hall and require a carrier bag for their shopping.
The pilot scheme will take place in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Gloucestershire and follows on from a previous scheme run in Northern Ireland which saw a 66% cut in carrier bag use in only 16 weeks.
The scheme has been meet positively by shoppers in the area who understand the need to reduce the numbers of plastic bags used and it is hoped that they will reuse bags instead of paying the 5p charge in store.
Marks and Spencer see this pilot as an important step in their plans to become carbon neutral by 2012 and all the money raised through the sale of the carriers will go to the charity Groundwork.
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