Morrisons has announced that it will remove all plastic ‘bags for life’ from its store estate, making it the first major supermarket in the UK to stop using plastic carrier bags completely.
The retailer stated that the move will save 3,200 tonnes of plastic per year and follows its removal of single-use plastic bags in 2017.
Customers will instead be able to purchase paper bags that are reusable and recyclable, and said to be water and tear-resistant. Morrisons pointed to a life cycle assessment carried out by The University of Sheffield which showed that the paper bags have a lower carbon footprint than the plastic equivalent.
The removal of the plastic ‘bags for life’ will be phased and will begin in Scotland this month, followed by England and Wales over the course of the next year. Almost 100 million plastic bags will be removed in total which equates to 1.9 million a week.
David Potts, Chief Executive of Morrisons said: “We have been listening hard to our customers over the past year and we know that they are passionate about doing their bit to keep plastics out of the environment. Removing all of the plastic bags from our supermarkets is a significant milestone in our sustainability programme.”
Since 2017, Morrisons has removed and made recyclable over 10,000 tonnes of plastic. It is on track to hit its 50% plastic reduction target by 2025.
