Marks & Spencer announces today that it is extending its carrier bag charging trial to 33 stores in the South West of England, following a successful 16 week period of charging 5p per bag in its Northern Ireland stores, as part of a continuing drive to encourage customers to reduce the number of carrier bags they use.
The Northern Ireland trial, which has now been running for 16 weeks, has led to a 66% reduction in the number of carriers used, with three quarters of M&S customers now using an alternative to the standard M&S food carrier bag each time they shop. Additionally, over £40,000 raised from the sale of standard food carrier bags has been donated to environmental charity, Groundwork Northern Ireland for environmental projects.
The trial area will be extended to all M&S stores in Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall from Sunday 13 January when, for three weeks, customers will receive a free M&S Bag for Life with each food transaction.
Then, from Sunday 3 February, M&S will introduce a 5p charge for standard food carrier bags* and the Bag for Life will revert to its usual 10p cost. When worn out, the Bag for Life will be replaced free of charge and recycled.
Stuart Rose, M&S Chief Executive said: “When we committed to our ‘Plan A’ targets, we knew that M&S had to make bold decisions to try and encourage customers to change their behaviour. Our initial trial in Northern Ireland has shown us that introducing charging does make customers think twice about the number of bags they use, which is why we are extending our carrier bag charging trial to the South West of England.
“If we see similar results and get an encouraging response from our customers in the South West, we plan to roll this out across the UK.”
All of the profits raised from sales of the standard carrier bag will be donated to environmental charity, Groundwork UK, and used for local environmental regeneration projects in disadvantaged areas across the South West.
Also from January, M&S will convert production of all of its standard food carrier bags used in the 33 trial stores to bags manufactured from 100% recycled post consumer waste.
The extended trial is part of M&S’ Plan A commitments to reduce carrier bag usage by a third and send no waste to landfill by 2012. Plan A, M&S’ business wide, £200 million ‘eco-plan’, was launched in January 2007.**
M&S stores included in the new trial area are: Avon Meads, Barnstaple, Bath, Bournemouth, Bristol, Castlepoint, Cheltenham, Christchurch, Cirencester, Cribbs Causeway, Dartmouth, Dorchester, Exeter, Falmouth, Frome, Gloucester, Harbourside, Hayle, Honiton, M5 Exeter Services, Newton Abbot, Plymouth, Plymouth Crownhill, Poole, Taunton, Tiverton, Torbay, Torquay, Truro Lemon Quay, Westbourne, Weston-Super-Mare, Weymouth, and Yeovil.
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For more information on Marks & Spencer, please contact:
M&S Corporate Press Office 0208 718 1919
Notes to Editors
- *Excluding mini food bags, horticultural bags and cake bags which will be available free of charge on request.
- In April 2007 M&S switched all of its UK clothing and home carrier bags to 100 per cent recycled post-consumer waste, a move that will reduce the amount of virgin plastic used each year by 2,000 tonnes.
- From June 2007 standard food bags have also been made from 20 per cent recycled content.
- **In January M&S announced Plan A, a five-year, 100 point business-wide ‘eco plan’. Under this plan, by 2012 M&S will become carbon neutral; send no waste to landfill; extend sustainable sourcing; set new standards in ethical trading and help customers and employees live a healthier lifestyle.
- See www.marksandspencer.com/plana for more information
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