How shoppers are avoiding the 5p plastic bag charge using buckets, cycle helmets, prams and SUITCASES
BRITS are going to extreme lengths to avoid paying an extra expenditure - the 5p charge for a plastic bag for shopping.
Full-size suitcases, prams, cycle helmets and even buckets have been used by shoppers to take their weekly groceries.
Research by show plastic bag use in supermarkets has dropped by a staggering 80 per cent since the new charge was introduced in England in 2015.
The waste management service asked more than 2,000 shoppers around the country what did they use when they didn't have a bag with them
A baby's pram and a suitcase were popular answers, while while others admitted to stuffing items in their coat pockets.
Other bizarre answers included using a bucket, a car blanket, a cycle helmet and a dog poo carrier bag to carry their shopping, rather than fork out 5p.
One participant claimed to use a pair of trousers tied up while another said they used a flower pot they bought to put stuff other items.
Some admitted beating the 5p carrier bag charge by pushing their goods home in supermarket trolleys.
In the past, people have taken to Twitter to boast about stealing the carts stacked high with groceries and then proudly posting evidence of the tactic.
But Mr Hall said: “We don’t encourage taking the trolleys. Number one, it’s theft, and if there is one downside to the plastic bag charge, it’s the number of abandoned shopping trolleys in the streets these days. It’s gone through the roof.”
Before the 5p charge came in effect two years ago, British shops alone gave away a mind-boggling 13 billion bags every year, but only one in 200 is recycled - leaving the rest to clog up landfill sites, where they fail to break down.
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The 5p fee in most shops go to various charities from cancer care to education.
But shoppers still insist on finding a way to avoid paying it.
BusinessWaste.co.uk spokesman Mark Hall said: "The tiny five pence fee is a red line for many people, who would rather stuff their pockets with frozen peas than carry them home in the 'bag of shame'.
"Two things became clear on day one of the scheme. First, there's no way on Earth you'll part some people with five pence for a plastic bag; and second, these same people will go to any length to find alternatives."
A 5p charge was introduced in Wales in 2011, in Northern Ireland in 2013 and Scotland in 2014.
England was the last country in the UK to start charging for plastic bags.
More than seven billion bags were given out by the seven major retailers in 2014.
This fell to half a billion in the six months since the charge was introduced last October, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs reported.
The weight of the bags saved is equivalent to 300 blue whales.
Environment Minister Therese Coffey called it a “huge success” and a boost for the environmentand charities.
Tesco UK and Ireland boss Matt Davies said the charge meant customers in England had cut out bags by a total of 30 million a week.
Dr Sue Kinsey of the Marine Conservation Society added: “This significant reduction will benefit the environment and sea life in particular.”
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