Marks & Spencer is to extend its carrier bag charging scheme to 33 stores in south-west England next year, following successful trials in Northern Ireland.
The Northern Ireland trial, which has been running for 16 weeks since June, has led to a 66% reduction in carrier bags. In addition, more than £40,000 has been raised for environmental charity Groundwork Northern Ireland.
Free Bags for Life were given away in stores and then a 5p charge for each regular carrier bag used was introduced in July.
M&S will roll out the scheme across all stores in Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall from Sunday 13 January. For three weeks, customers will receive a Bag for Life with each transaction.
From Sunday 3 February, customers will be charged 5p for standard food carrier bags and the Bag for Life will revert to its usual 10p pricetag. M&S will replace worn-out Bags for Life free of charge.
All profits raised from sales of standard carrier bags will be donated to environmental charity Groundwork UK.
M&S chief executive Stuart Rose said the initial trial in Northern Ireland proved that charging customers made them "think twice" about the number of bags they used.
He said: "If we see similar results and get an encouraging response from our customers in the south west, we plan to roll this out across the UK."
The extended trial is part of M&S' Plan A, launched in January 2007, to reduce carrier bag usage by a third and send no waste to landfill by 2012.
The Northern Ireland trial, which has been running for 16 weeks since June, has led to a 66% reduction in carrier bags. In addition, more than £40,000 has been raised for environmental charity Groundwork Northern Ireland.
Free Bags for Life were given away in stores and then a 5p charge for each regular carrier bag used was introduced in July.
M&S will roll out the scheme across all stores in Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall from Sunday 13 January. For three weeks, customers will receive a Bag for Life with each transaction.
From Sunday 3 February, customers will be charged 5p for standard food carrier bags and the Bag for Life will revert to its usual 10p pricetag. M&S will replace worn-out Bags for Life free of charge.
All profits raised from sales of standard carrier bags will be donated to environmental charity Groundwork UK.
M&S chief executive Stuart Rose said the initial trial in Northern Ireland proved that charging customers made them "think twice" about the number of bags they used.
He said: "If we see similar results and get an encouraging response from our customers in the south west, we plan to roll this out across the UK."
The extended trial is part of M&S' Plan A, launched in January 2007, to reduce carrier bag usage by a third and send no waste to landfill by 2012.
Source: packagingnews
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