Plastic bag use rising in Britain for first time in a decade due to online shopping
The number of plastic bags used by the British is increasing for the first time in ten years – and experts say that online shopping will be blamed.
The new data shows that England bought 437 million plastic bags last year and received 437 million plastic bags with seven percent of 407 million in 2023/24. In 2015, the number has risen for the first time since each disposable plastic bag sold by large retailers in 2015.
While talking TimesWaste Charity Wrap said that the increase in online shopping would be accused of fluctuation primarily. He said that the packaging methods used by internet retailers are frequently used from disposable carrier bags for home delivery.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Department (Defra) by the figures, online supermarket Ocado shows, 51 percent of those sold in the UK last year sold 221 million plastic bags. They said the increase fell to growth in the general customer bases.
Online supermarket added that they introduced a “closed loop system for plastic bags, 89 percent of the bags were returned and recycled.
Supermarkets were generally responsible for the sale of plastic bags. Co-op, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s sold the most plastic bag with 94 million, 58 million and 11 million sales, respectively. All four retailers have increased in disposable plastic bags last year.
A spokesman in Ocado Retail said: “Our approach to delivery is designed to minimize emissions and wastes while keeping customer orders and products perfectly from the warehouse to the door.
“In 2015, we were the first retailer to offer a closed loop recycling system for plastic bags, allowing customers to return any retailer plastic bags and our current repayment rate in the bag is 89%.
Sainsbury’s also said that the optional delivery services that were used before plastic bags have grown last year. Now they added that they replaced plastic bags with paper bags.
Morrison also told Independent They had their own closed loop recycling processes, but they said they were moving towards more addresses that bought a “without bags” delivery system.
A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “Upon request, delivery services grew last year and initially used disposable plastic bags. We changed them with paper bags and expects our disposable plastic bag sales significantly reduced in the next report.
“All sales revenues obtained from these disposable plastic bags and the profits obtained from our reusable bags are used to support good reasons in the communities we serve and originate.
“More than 50 percent of the postal codes that we provide in a small polls where the customer opened and opened their hands to the driver in front of the door.
“Other postal codes are fulfilled by our automatic center fulfillment center that our customers receive in a recyclable plastic bag – 88 percent of them are returned and recycled as part of a closed loop recycling process.”
