Policy paper

Carrier bags: why there's a charge

Updated 11 January 2018

The law requires large shops in England to charge 5p for all single-use plastic carrier bags. Charging started on 5 October 2015.

We want to reduce the use of single-use plastic carrier bags, and the litter they can cause, by encouraging people to reuse bags.

1. Which shops charge for bags

Large businesses need to charge for single-use plastic carrier bags. This applies to retailers who have 250 or more employees.

It’s not just supermarkets who are affected, many high street and out-of-town shops are also required to charge for bags. Smaller businesses can also charge on a voluntary basis if they wish.

As we said in our paper ‘A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment’ we want to extend the scheme so that small retailers also charge for bags. We’ll first be looking at voluntary agreements with industries to achieve this, before we consider making this compulsory.

Whether or not a shop must charge for bags depends on the size of the company that runs the shop, not on the size of an individual branch. There’s more information in our guidance for retailers.

2. Bags for life

As a shopper, you can avoid being charged by bringing your own bags. In some shops, you can buy thicker, reusable ‘bags for life’. Typically, you pay for these once, and can return them for a free replacement when they wear out.

3. When you’re not charged for a bag

There are some cases where retailers aren’t required to charge you for a bag:

• paper bags
• shops in airports, or on board trains, aeroplanes or ships
• bags which only contain certain items, such as unwrapped food, raw meat and fish where there is a food safety risk, prescription medicines, uncovered blades, seeds, bulbs and flowers, or live fish

We’ve set out full details of all of the exemptions from the charge in our guidance for retailers. In cases where retailers aren’t required by law to charge for a bag, it is up to them to decide whether or not to do so. There is nothing in the law that prevents retailers from charging for bags, even where there’s an exemption.

4. Biodegradable bags

There is currently no exemption for biodegradable bags. We completed a review of industry standards for the biodegradability of lightweight plastics in December 2015. The review found that there are a number of standards for plastic bag biodegradability.

We will continue to consider the technical specifications for a genuinely biodegradable bag and how an exemption for this could be implemented.

5. Benefits: why there’s a charge

The scheme aims to reduce the use of single-use plastic carrier bags, and the litter associated with them, by encouraging people to re-use bags.

In 2014 over 7.6 billion single-use plastic bags were given to customers by major supermarkets in England. That’s something like 140 bags per person, the equivalent of about 61,000 tonnes in total.

They take longer than other bags to degrade in the environment, can damage wildlife, and are extremely visible when littered in our towns, parks and the countryside.

Despite research showing that the average household already had 40 plastic bags around the home, the number of plastic bags taken from supermarkets increased for the fifth year running in 2014.

Similar 5p charges are also in place across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Since we introduced the scheme, the number of bags used has gone down by more than 80 percent in England.

We estimate that over the next 10 years the benefits of the scheme will include:

• an expected overall benefit of over £780 million to the UK economy
• up to £730 million raised for good causes
• £60 million savings in litter clean-up costs
• carbon savings of £13 million

6. How the proceeds are being used

This is not a tax and the money from the charge does not go to the government.

We expect retailers to give the proceeds of the scheme to good causes, but it is for them to choose what to do, and which causes to support. We ask retailers to report to us each year about what they do with the money from the charge. We publish a summary which includes details of the amounts of money given to good causes.

During the year from 7 April 2016 to 6 April 2017, almost two-thirds of retailers told us they gave over £66 million to good causes - amounting to 4 pence for every single-use bag sold by them.

7. Results from the scheme

The carrier bag charge has made a big difference. Since we introduced the scheme, the number of bags used has gone down by more than 80 percent in England. This means that more than nine billion fewer plastic bags have been used.

We publish a summary which includes the results reported to us by retailers.

8. Watch our video

Watch our short video for consumers and others explaining the 5p charge for single-use plastic carrier bags:

Single-use plastic carrier bag charge

Transcript of commentary on video:

From 5 October 2015, large shops in England will have to charge five pence for all single use plastic carrier bags they provide. In 2013, the major supermarkets in England gave out over 7.4 billion plastic bags – that’s 133 bags for every person. To protect our environment from litter and pollution we are committed to bringing this number down.

The five pence charge on single use plastic carrier bags could reduce usage by as much as 80% in the big supermarkets. Small retailers don’t have to charge but can do so on a voluntary basis. You can avoid paying the charge either by reusing single use plastic carrier bags, or by using multi-use bags for life. You also won’t pay a five pence charge if you’re using a paper bag, if you’re in transit, or if your bag only contains certain items, such as unwrapped food, raw meat and fish, prescription medicines, uncovered blades, seeds, bulbs and flowers, or live fish.

Retailers need to keep track of how many plastic bags they’ve given out and where the proceeds have gone … and report this to Government by 31 May every year. We expect good causes to benefit from the charge by tens of millions of pounds each year.