Waitrose to kill off ‘bags for life’ in bid to eliminate plastic

WAITROSE is to ditch its 10p plastic “bags for life” after research showed they were no longer being “reused as originally intended”.

The supermarket chain announced it will replace the carrier bags with a “reusable alternative” costing shoppers 50p from Sept 27 as it tries to eliminate some 40 million plastic bags per year.

The company said the decision was reached after taking into account how often buyers repeat purchase plastic bags. It collated this with figures from Greenpeace, which showed that people were buying more than in the past, with a 29 per cent increase in 2019 compared with the previous year.

Waitrose said it did not want shoppers to use the new 50p bags, adding that it hoped the increased costs would force people to reuse bags.

James Bailey, executive director, said: “We’ve long pledged to reduce single use plastics, so we have a clear obligation to remove our bags for life because they are no longer being reused as originally intended.

“While our new bag is more durable and fully recyclable, it is available only and for customers with no other option. We do not want anyone to buy our new bags and urge customers to bring ones they already have.”