Morrisons to introduce paper bags and ramp up price of plastic ones

As part of its war on plastic, the grocer said that in eight stores it would trial a charge 20p for one paper bag and 15p for long-life plastic bags.

The new paper bags will have handles and will fit approximately the same volume of items as fit into a plastic carrier bag.

The 5p plastic bag levy was introduced in England from 5 October 2015 when 7bn bags per year were being sold and is now compulsory for all large retailers.

The Environment Secretary Michael Gove recently announced that prices would rise to 10p and would also be compulsory for small retailers from 2020 onwards. Since 2015, the number of total plastic bags sold in the UK has been reduced to under 1bn.

Andy Atkinson, Morrisons’ group customer and marketing director, said according to The Guardian: “These new paper bags do exactly the same job as standard plastic carrier bags. They are tough, reusable and can help keep a large amount of plastic out of the environment.”

Julian Kirby, waste and resources campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “We welcome this – especially if they scale up from a trial. What stands out is that the bags are designed to be reused and will be less resource intensive to produce than the heavier duty tote bags and fully recyclable. It would be better still if they were made from recycled material themselves.”