Marks and Spencer hopes to cut plastic bag use with 5p levy

I wonder if any of the local supermarket chains such as PAVI, Smart, Scotts, Lidl etc have considered such a move to cut at our bad habit of filling our car booths full of goods in plastic bags. Personally, I doubt it. I still remember the outrage when the ecotax was announced. I am not aware of any figures that show wheter such a tax has managed to reduce the consumption of certain products, apart from filling the public coffers.

Marks & Spencer will charge 5p for each bag and the proceeds will go to charity. In Britain, 13billion bags are distributed each year, each of which can take up to 1000 years to decay. Plus they are made from the black gold called oil.

Can anyone tell some executive at these chains that reducing the distribution of plastic bags helps their bottom line and the environment? At least, they can start a trail at one of their many outlets and gauge customer feedback.

Source: The Guardian