The use of plastic bags has fallen by more than a quarter over the last two years as shoppers switch to reusable bags, new figures have shown.
Figures from the waste reduction agency showed the number of carrier bags handed out by the major supermarkets and shops has fallen from 13.4 billion to 9.9 billion since 2006.
The amount of plastic used has also been reduced by 40 per cent in the same period by using less plastic for each bag and recycled materials. The target to reduce the environmental impact of carrier bags was part of an agreement with UK Government and retailers have now agreed to try and cut use of plastic bags by 50 per cent by May this year. This would save 130,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide – equivalent to taking 41,000 cars off the road
Jane Kennedy, the environment minister, said the supermarkets were on the way to meeting the "ambitious" target.
"This is great progress made by both retailers and shoppers and shows that reducing our reliance on carrier bags is becoming a way of life," she said.
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But Dickey Felton from Keep Britain Tidy said carrier bags are still a litter problem.
Street eyesore
"In the last few years we have seen an increase in the numbers of plastic bags ending up on our streets as litter," he said. "We absolutely welcome moves by supermarkets recently to reduce plastic bag use." In 2005, Australians used 3.92 billion lightweight single use high density polyethylene bags.
About 2.14 billion of these came from supermarkets, while the others were used by fast food restaurants, service stations, convenience stores and liquor stores and other shops.
Plastic bags are popular with consumers and retailers as they are a functional, lightweight, strong, cheap, and hygienic way to transport food and other products.
Most of these go to landfill (rubbish tips) after they are used, and some are recycled.
Although plastic bags make up only a small percentage of all litter, the impact of these bags is nevertheless significant. Plastic bags create visual pollution problems and can have harmful effects on aquatic and terrestrial animals.
Plastic bags are particularly noticeable components of the litter stream due to their size and can take a long time to fully break down.
In recent years, many people have started to use reusable bags, such as the 'green bags' you can buy at most supermarkets.
— Agencies
