Scotland’s plastic bag use cut in half

By Cara Sulieman

SCOTTISH supermarket customers have cut the number of carrier bags they use by HALF over the past three years.

The seven big players in the market – Asda, Co-op, Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Somerfield, Tesco and Waitrose – say they have reduced the number of bags handed out by 49 per cent from 78.4 million every month to 39.6 million.

It comes just a year after the Scottish Government set the target of reducing carrier bag usage to 50 per cent across the country.

Each supermarket used their own technique to encourage their customers to reuse bags, with many using current rewards schemes already in place.