Do your bit and bag a bag for life

3:43pm Tuesday 24th April 2007

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A SUPERMARKET is hoping to change shoppers' habits for good this Friday.

Sainsbury's will stop giving out free disposable carrier bags to mark the launch of its Make the Difference days.

Instead, staff will hand customers free reusable Bags for Life, which normally cost 10p.

The company wants customers to keep and reuse the bags on future shopping trips to reduce the number of disposable carriers bags.

Store manager Richard Hopkins said: "Our customers are showing an increasing interest in wanting to be greener or healthier, but tell us they would like more information about what they can do.

"Sainsbury's is launching Make the Difference days to help customers and colleagues take simple steps to effect real change.

"On the first day we will provide the bags for free but need customers to reuse them to really make the difference."

Sainsbury's has planned to have a Make the Difference day each month to encourage positive action across a range of environmental and ethical issues.

On average customers use these bags at least 20 times saving an estimated 90m disposable bags each year.

Stratton Sainsbury's expects to give customers out 9,000 Bags for Life on Friday.

Dr Liz Goodwin, chief executive at Wrap, the Waste Resources Action Programme, said: "Wrap welcomes this bold initiative by Sainsbury's and we hope it results in a longer-term change in our habits.

"Too many of us rely on free carrier bags when we shop and as a result 13bn of them are used up every year in the UK.

"From our research we know it's very difficult for shoppers to adopt greener habits without support, and Sainsbury's is clearly trying to encourage customers to reuse bags in a very positive way."

In September, Sainsbury's pioneered the first free carrier bag with a high content of recycled material and is still the only major retailer to offer customers this kind of bag.

It includes 10 per cent chalk and cuts the use of raw plastic by 43 per cent.

The orange bags are made of 33 per cent recycled carrier bag meaning they've been a carrier bag before and can be again, saving 6,500 tonnes of virgin plastic raw material each year.

Shoppers who buy their groceries online with Sainsbury's are encouraged to hand their carrier bags back to the delivery person to be recycled.

Last week Asda, which has superstores in West Swindon and at the Orbital shopping centre in north Swindon, said it would swap five plastic bags for one reusable bag.

The Advertiser launched the Time to Change campaign in November to flag up environmental issues.

The aim is to provide simple ways in which we can all use less energy to minimise the impact on climate change and the environment.