All shops in Britain to charge 10p for a plastic carrier bag from April next year
BRITS will have to pay 10p for a plastic carrier bag in all shops from April next year, ministers have announced.
The charge was first brought in five years ago for supermarkets, but is now being doubled and extended to smaller stores too.
It has reduced the number of plastic bags in circulation by billions, with shoppers in England now buying an average of just four per year.
In 2014, before the charge was introduced, we all used around 140 carrier bags every 12 months.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said: "We have all seen the devastating impact plastic bags have on the oceans and on precious marine wildlife, which is why we are taking bold and ambitious action to tackle this issue head on.
"The UK is already a world-leader in this global effort, and our carrier bag charge has been hugely successful in taking billions of harmful plastic bags out of circulation.
"But we want to go further by extending this to all retailers so we can continue to cut unnecessary waste and build back greener.
"I hope our pioneering track record on single-use plastics will inspire many more countries to follow suit, so we can take on plastic waste together and implement lasting change.”
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