Supermarket giant Morrisons has become the first grocery chain in the UK to completely eliminate plastic bags from its stores, a move it says will save 3,200 tonnes of plastic a year.

The grocer said it would remove all plastic ‘bags for life’ from its 497 supermarkets following a successful trial of the scheme and customers will instead be able to purchase reusable paper bags, the production of which has a lower carbon footprint than plastic. 

Morrisons paper bags

Plastic ‘bags for life’ have been replaced with reusable paper bags

Morrisons said the new paper bags are “reusable, recyclable, water-resistant, tear-resistant and can hold up to 16kg” in weight.

The removal of plastic bags will be phased and will begin in Scotland from this month, followed by stores in England and Wales over the next 12 months. 

Orders made by customers online will also receive their delivery without plastic bags when groceries are picked and packed at Morrisons stores. 

The grocer said by the time the scheme has been fully implemented, it will have removed over 100 million plastic bags in total. 

Chief executive David Potts said: “We have been listening hard to our customers over the past year and we know that they are passionate about doing their bit to keep plastics out of the environment. Removing all of the plastic bags from our supermarkets is a significant milestone in our sustainability programme.”

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