Morrisons bans ALL plastic bags

Move will save 3,000 tons of waste a year in national first

MORRISONS is to ban sales of all plastic bags – in a first for UK supermarkets.

The move, which will see the retailer replace plastic ‘bags for life’ with paper alternatives, is expected to save some 3,200 tons of waste a year.

And their removal will stop almost 200million plastic bags a year being used in stores and online deliveries.

It comes three years after the ‘big four’ supermarket ditched sales of single-use bags, which have been blamed for littering. The latest decision is a victory for the Daily Mail’s work against plastic pollution – dating back to the launch of the Banish the Bags campaign in 2008. And it should give a boost to projects such as the Great British Spring Clean, a Keep Britain Tidy campaign championed by the Daily Mail.

The new paper bags will cost 30p and will be available alongside other reusable options. These include string, jute, cotton and woven bags which are priced between 75p and £2.50.

Labelled ‘Reusable Paper Bag’, the bags are sourced from forests and are manufactured at an eco-powered site in Wales. They also have handles and can carry up to 16kg – the equivalent of 13 bottles of wine.

A life cycle assessment carried out by the University of Sheffield has also shown that the paper bags have a lower carbon footprint than their plastic equivalent.

The removal of the plastic bags for life will be phased, beginning in Scotland this month. This will then be followed by stores in England and Wales over the next year. Customers who order their shopping online will also receive their deliveries without plastic bags if the order is packed in a store.

David Potts, Morrisons chief executive, said: ‘We have been listening hard to our customers over the past year and we know that they are passionate about doing their bit to keep plastics out of the environment.’

He added: ‘Removing all of the plastic bags from our supermarkets is a significant milestone.’

GRIEF- STRICKEN at her brother’s untimely death from a blood clot after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, Dr Alison Astles speaks from a position of almost unique authority and potency.

Despite the family tragedy, she is adamant. ‘ People should have their vaccine,’ says the pharmacist. ‘ That way we will save the most lives.’

It is incumbent upon every single one of us to act on her powerful message.

Only by inoculating the population can Covid-19 finally be halted – saving lives, ending lockdown and regaining normality.

Of course, by flagging up a potential link to thrombosis, Britain’s drugs regulator risked damaging immunisation take-up.

Indeed, the sinister anti-vaxx brigade (aided by amoral social media giants blithely turning a blind eye) seized the opportunity to prey on the vulnerable by falsely claiming the doses were harmful.

But the watchdog was right to come clean. In a crisis, transparency is key.

If crucial medical data had been concealed, only to leak out later, trust in the vaccine might have been irreparably undermined.

As it is, the public have responded with customary fortitude, wrapping themselves in a blanket of good sense. Clinics yesterday heaved with men and women keeping calm, carrying on, and rolling up their sleeves.

They appreciate that next to the risk of dying from Covid, the chance of fatal side effects are microscopic (indeed, roughly the same as a plane crashing on to your home).

They also know that the world-leading inoculation blitz is saving lives – 10,400 and counting. And Britain’s death rate, not long ago the worst in Europe, is now the best.

Yes, some of this can be attributed to lockdown. But evidence shows that vaccines are smashing the link between infections and mortality. The country is moving inexorably closer to herd immunity – breaking the back of this malign disease.

Boris Johnson insists we are still on target to axe all restrictions on June 21.

That foreign holidays are actively being cleared for take-off this summer strengthens this conviction. It would also reward the public who, having uncomplainingly endured these grim constraints, are desperate for sun, sea and sand.

And it eases jitters that No10 might renege on its promise and keep precautionary measures, in one form or another, in place indefinitely.

Vaccine passports, home tests, face masks and social distancing… these would not be a new normal, but palpably abnormal.

Such tactics – a preposterous zero-Covid policy by the back door – would sap consumer confidence and shackle firms struggling desperately to rebuild.

The economy, blossoming beyond all expectations, needs fertilising, not trampling into the dirt.

Prolonging the assault on our lives would be inexpressibly cruel. The unencumbered interactions that elevate and shape society – and safeguard our mental health – must not be lost for ever.

In her hour of loss, Dr Astles urges us to keep being jabbed. If that is not the exit route, ministers must explain what is.