80 per cent fall in plastic bag use

The number of plastic bags taken home by shoppers at Tesco stores in England has dropped by almost 80 per cent since a 5p levy was introduced according to a report

Supermarket bosses have declined to say how many 5p bags had been bought but said it was down 78% on the month before the charge, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The government brought in the charge in October to help reduce the amount of plastic waste.

The number of bags given out by seven major supermarkets in England rose by 200 million in 2014 to exceed 7.6 billion - the equivalent of 140 per person and amounting to 61,000 tonnes in total.

The supermarket said it had also seen a 50% increase in the amount of shoppers opting for "bagless" online deliveries.

Rebecca Shelley, Tesco's communications director, said the charge had "clearly had a huge impact" and the company was on target to donate £30m to charity over the year.