Morrisons to double price of plastic bags to 20p – and offer paper bags too

The supermarket started a trial at eight stores in January, which involved offering customers a 15p reusable plastic bag or a 20p reusable paper bag. But it now says all of its 494 stores will offer both plastic and paper bags for 20p.

Plastic bags will cost 20p at all Morrisons stores from Monday 8 April. The new paper bags, which are made in Wales from 'sustainably sourced' forests and can hold up to 16kg in weight, will be available in all Welsh stores from next week and in English and Scottish stores from May.

See Supermarket Shopping Tips for help on cutting your shopping bill, plus our 13 ways to use less plastic AND save cash.

What do other supermarkets charge for plastic bags?

All large retailers are required by law to charge a 5p levy on single-use plastic bags, in a bid to reduce plastic waste. The Government is currently consulting on whether to increase the charge to 10p and extend it to all retailers in England. Paper bags are exempt from the charge.

But Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco have all scrapped the 5p single-use plastic bags altogether – a move which Morrisons says has cut bag sales by 25%.

Instead, the major supermarkets now sell reusable plastic bags, or 'bags for life':

• Sainsbury's sells two different reusable plastic bags, charged at 5p or 10p.

• Aldi, Asda and Lidl charge 9p (although Lidl is currently trialling phasing out its 9p plastic bags as well).

• Tesco charges 10p.

What does Morrisons say?

Andy Atkinson, group customer and marketing director at Morrisons, said: "We are taking another meaningful step that will remove an estimated 1,300 tonnes of plastic out of the environment each year.

"Our customers have told us that reducing plastic is their number one environmental concern, so introducing the paper bag across the nation will provide another way of reducing the plastic in their lives."