To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the introduction of the 5 pence carrier bag charge on the number of carrier bags issued by retailers.
Answered on
12 September 2017
Since the introduction of the five pence carrier bag charge in October 2015, retailer reporting shows a very large drop in the consumption of single use plastic carrier bags; the seven major retailers distributed around nine billion fewer single-use plastic bags (a reduction of around 83%) compared to pre-charge levels.