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Marks & Spencer is to charge customers in Northern Ireland for the use of carrier bags in the next phase of its £200m 'Plan A' to improve its environmental impact.

The retailer is to give away free ‘bags for life’ during a trial in Northern Ireland in June. To encourage customers to use them, it will charge 5p for each regular carrier bag used in July, donating all money raised to charity.

In the first update to Plan A, Marks & Spencer also said it expected to label 150 air-freighted food items as such by the end of the year, and had already labelled 12% of its food lines with information on the source and disposability of the packaging.

It is also trialling new packaging for its Nutritionally Balanced ready meals that reduces the use of plastic by 75%, as well as looking to invest in RFID.

The update came as Marks & Spencer reported a 28.5% increase in pre-tax profits for the year to 31 March, up to £965.2m.

The Packaging and Films Association (PAFA) has acknowledged the role of charging as a means to educate the public, but said there are people who might feel discriminated against.

PAFA spokesman Peter Woodall said: “Customers with small value purchases – such as sandwiches – may see the charge as disproportionately high, whereas those buying expensive items such as electronic goods may reasonably object to being charged for the convenience of protecting their purchases while getting them home.”