('�)
Share

May 4, 2009 - British retailer, Marks and Spencer (M&S), has seen an 80% reduction in the use of disposable plastic shopping bags since introducing a charge for them nearly a year ago (via the Guardian).

The company reports that the number of bags taken over the last year has fallen from 460 million a year to 80 million.

M&S introduced the charge as part of its Plan A sustainability initiative to reduce waste by minimizing plastic bag usage and to stop all waste from its operations going to landfill by 2012. (Hear more about Marks & Spencer’s Plan A from Mike Barry, head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Sustainable Brands ’09 Conference May 31 to June 4, in Monterrey, California.)

The company accredits its plastic bag drop to incentivizing the use of reusable bags or “bags for life”. A spokeswoman for M&S says, "The main driver for the reduction is people bringing in an alternative bag, either a plastic bag for life or cloth bag with them when they shop with us and we have encouraged them to do so through regular bag for life giveaways."

Retailers around the globe are seeing huge success in the reduction of plastic bag use through various schemes. IKEA and Apple have completely stopped offering the disposable bags in their U.S. stores. Wal-Mart, and Tesco have also taken steps over the past year to reduce their plastic bag use.