Plastic bags to be binned

Britain's leading supermarkets have agreed to a 50% cut in the number of carrier bags given out by spring 2009.

Seven chains - Asda, the Co-operative, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose - are involved in the Government agreement with the British Retail Consortium to cut their provision of single-use plastic and paper carriers by half compared with 2006 levels, when consumers used around 13 billion bags.

The agreement will save enough bags to fill 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools or the Royal Albert Hall one-and-a-half times.

The pledge is part of a target to meet a 70% reduction in the longer term.

"This is a bold commitment which will result in around five billion fewer bags being handed out," says Environment Minister Jane Kennedy.

"Supermarkets have already taken some imaginative steps to help us use fewer carrier bags and other high street retailers should look to them for inspiration.

"Of course, we can all play our part to reduce the number of carrier bags on our high streets and the Government will work closely with the BRC on a campaign to help us all to do so."

Liz Goodwin, chief executive of Wrap (Waste and Resources Action Programme), says the agreement is great news.

"It should act as a spur to all of us to remember to take our bags with us when shopping. The aim, which is at the core of Wrap's work, is a world which uses resources more efficiently."