Store to bin single-use plastic bags

Waitrose will remove loose fruit and vegetable plastic bags by spring next year and 5p single-use plastic carrier bags will be scrapped by March in all shops.

The supermarket said the move would save 134 million plastic bags – the equivalent of 500 tonnes

of plastic a year. Waitrose and Partners said a home compostable alternative would be used for fruit and vegetable plastic bags.

The retailer said the new alternative bags would look and feel similar to the plastic ones, apart from printed text saying they were home compostable.

The material will break down in landfill if put in a normal bin and the bags can be placed in food waste caddies or home composted.

Waitrose will initially remove 5p bags from six shops south of the Border from 8 October to understand how to manage the changeover as smoothly as possible ahead of their complete removal in March.

The company said customers would be told before the change came into effect in their local shop.