M&S announces 5p charge for carrier bags

Marks & Spencer have joined a growing number of high street shops who charge customers for carrier bags.

In a bid to reduce the number of plastic bags being used, M&S bosses have announced that from May 6th there will be a 5p charge for every bag used in M&S food halls. Profits made from selling the bags will be donated to environmental charity Groundwork, which provides and improves green spaces across the UK.

This announcement is the latest part of M&S’s £200 million Plan A, and follows a trial of the scheme in Northern Ireland and the south west of England. Food carrier bag usage in the trials dropped by 70%.

M&S’s chief executive, Stewart Rose, launched the scheme by saying: “We want to make it easy for our customers to do their bit to help the environment and our trials have shown us that they want to take action.

“Just imagine if M&S customers right across the UK cut the number of food bags they use by 70% - that’s over 280m bags they’d be saving each year.”

There are no plans as yet to extend the plans to cover bags for M&S clothes, as the number of bags used in the stores’ clothes departments is relatively small compared to the 394 million used in food halls.

The Green Party have welcomed the scheme, but added that the government should take charge of the matter. Adrian Ramsey, a Green party spokesperson, said: “We believe that the only way to achieve a serious and sustainable decrease is through Government legislation introducing a mandatory tax on every plastic bag used.”

For one month before the charge for bags is introduced, all M&S shoppers will receive a free M&S ‘bag for life’ made from 100% recycled materials.