Tesco sees almost 80% reduction in new plastic bag use
There has been an 78% drop in the number of new plastic carrier bags used by Tesco shoppers in England since the introduction of the 5p charge in October.
Prior to the introduction of the levy, the number of carrier bags given out by seven of England's major supermarkets had soared above 7.6bn each year, equal to 61,000 tonnes.
Tesco's communications director, Rebecca Shelley, told the Telegraph that the new charge had "clearly had a huge impact".
The supermarket is set to donate £30m in funds raised from the levy to charity by the year end.
A spokesman for the British Retail Consortium said that despite the success, there was a lot more work to be done to protect the environment.
"We must not let an obsessions with carrier bags get in the way of the wider and more important green goals on which retailers are working incredibly hard and making significant progress including reducing packaging, carbon emissions, food waste and waste to landfill," he said.