News

Whole Foods Market will stop issuing single-use plastic carrier bags at all its stores in the UK, US and Canada within the next three months.

The US-based organic foods retailer, which encourages customers to reuse packaging, estimated the move would save 100 million plastic bags by the end of the year. It will, however, continue to offer paper bags made from 100% recycled fibre.

Whole Foods Market said it had received an "incredibly positive" response from customers when it phased out plastic bags during trials in San Francisco, Toronto and Austin, Texas.

The company operates one Whole Foods Market supermarket in the UK, in Kensington, London, as well as five Fresh & Wild stores.

It had previously tried to encourage customers to reuse bags by refunding 2.5p-5p (US5 cents to 10 cents) – depending on the store – for each bag a customer reused. It also offers a range of reusable bags.

Whole Foods Market declared today (22 January) 'Bring Your Own Bag Day', and will give out more than 50,000 reusable bags at its checkouts. The deadline for removing single-use plastic bags from its stores is 22 April – Earth Day.  

Meanwhile, the government has responded to a parliamentary question on its policy on a possible bag tax in London by saying it was "actively considering how to bring forward action that would enable single-use carrier bags to be phased out".

This response from the Treasury came three days after environment minister Joan Ruddock said there were "no current plans" for a carrier bag tax.

Paper manufacturer St Regis, part of DS Smith Group, has defended the environmental credentials of its paper bags, and criticised their inclusion, alongside plastic bags, in the London Local Authorities (Shopping Bags) Bill. The Bill aims to prohibit retailers from supplying bags in all but a few exempted cases.