Co-op to remove plastic ‘bags for life’

The Co-op is to remove plastic “bags for life” from sale in all of its 2,600 stores, warning that the low-cost, reusable bag has become the new singleuse carrier.

The bags will be phased out from today, with all remaining stock expected to be sold by the end of this summer.

The retailer is replacing single-use bags with 10p compostable carriers in all stores to ensure that customers are able to buy a low-cost, lowimpact alternative bag with a sustainable second use.

The fee for single-use plastic shopping bags in England will double to 10p in May.

The Co-op is now calling for a policy to require major retailers to report on all reusable bags, as well as singleuse bags, to provide greater transparency to track the true impact of carrier bag levy.

Co-op’s other recommendations include requiring all single-use carrier bags to be certified compostable and to introduce a minimum 50p price for reusable bags to create a greater perceived value to encourage customers to reuse them instead of treating them as single-use.

Data from Greenpeace suggests that supermarkets distributed more than 1.5 billion bags for life in 2019, weighing a total of 44,913 tonnes – a 56% increase on the previous year.

Bags for life use more plastic in their production than conventional single-use carriers.

This has in turn increased the amount of plastic that is in circulation.

The Co-op said its new initiative would remove 29.5 million bags for life, weighing around 870 tonnes of plastic, from sale each year.