Co-op Removes Plastic ‘Lifetime Bags’ From Sale As Many Buyers Use Them ‘One Time Only’ | UK News

The cooperative will become the last supermarket to remove plastic “life bags” from sale in all of its stores.

The bags will begin to disappear from the chain’s 2,600 stores starting today, and stocks are expected to be completely depleted by the end of the summer.

It’s part of an effort to remove 29.5 million Lifetime Bags – or 870 tonnes of plastic – from sale each year.

It comes just weeks after rival Morrisons said he would get rid of plastic “life bags”, in favor of more tear-resistant paper bags.

Jo Whitfield, Managing Director of Co-op Food, said: “The increased use of Lifetime Bags has led to a surge in the use of plastic.

“With more than 1.5 billion bags sold each year by retailers, this remains a major problem for our industry as many buyers regularly buy so-called lifetime bags to only use them once and this results in a significant increase in the amount of plastic produced. . “

Greenpeace data suggests that supermarkets distributed more than 1.5 billion lifetime bags in 2019 – a total of 44,913 tonnes of plastic and a 56% increase from the previous year.

It takes more plastic to produce lifelong bags than conventional single-use bags.

Meanwhile, the cost of single-use plastic bags will double to 10p in England next month and, although the cooperative has welcomed it, it says more transparency is needed to track the impact of the tax on transport bags.

Ms Whitfield said: “We believe it should be mandatory for all retailers to report sales of all their reusable bags, not just single use bags.

“Currently, Co-op is the only major retailer to report on all the bags it sells. This policy would make it possible to better understand the impact of the tax and its real effect on purchasing behavior when customers make decisions at the checkouts. . “

Helen Bird, strategic …