Cornershops across Britain will have to charge customers 5p for single-use plastic bags as the government renews its war on our “throwaway culture”.
Theresa May is to set out a 25-year plan for improving the environment, including a measure to bring small retailers in line with big stores which already levy the charge.
The Prime Minister will use a speech on Thursday to outline the plan, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Briefing the cabinet on Tuesday, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said the government was “determined to tackle the throwaway culture which plastics encapsulate”, the BBC reported.
Currently only those chains with 250 employees or more are responsible for collecting the fee. The 5p charge is already levied by small shops in Scotland and Wales.
Early figures suggested shoppers in England had taken home six billion fewer single-use plastic bags as a result of the 5p charge at big retailers.
James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, which represents cornershops, said: “The 5p carrier bag charge is an effective way of significantly reducing the number of bags in circulation whilst also providing retailers with a way of raising money for local charities.
“We have long campaigned for the charge to be extended to all retailers in England, as is already the case in Scotland and Wales, and would welcome steps to make the charge universal.”