UK retailer Co-Op chooses compostable carrier bags
UK supermarket retailer Co-Op has announced plans to phase out single-use plastic carrier bags from around half of its stores, in an effort to cut the use of 60m plastic bags every year.
Print24 September 2018
Co-Op in the UK is joining the fight against plastic by phasing out single-use bags, to be replaced with compostable bags at a charge of 5p each. The innovative move will eliminate a whopping 60m plastic bags every year, the company predicts.
The retailer said that the move is part of a larger effort to phase out any packaging that cannot be re-used.
The compostable bags have been under trial at 22 stores in Manchester, and will now be expanded to more than 1,400 Co-op stores across the UK. The chain has around 2,500 outlets, and is in 6th position in the Kantar Worldpanel supermarket share index for the UK.
Co-Op retail chief executive Jo Whitfield said the move is the first in a number of conservation steps the company is taking. “These bags are a simple but ingenious way to provide an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic shopping bags,” Whitfield said.
Co-op said it also plans to make its own-brand packaging easier to recycle by 2023, and to use a minimum of 50% recycled plastic in bottles, pots, trays and punnets by 2021.
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