REGULAR shoppers at Swindon’s Lidl and Aldi supermarkets will be familiar with having to bring their own shopping bags or face paying for them.

Now shoppers visiting Asda, The Co-operative, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose will also have to pay for their carrier bags.

Shoppers who don’t take their own carrier bags will be faced with an extra five pence on their bill for each polythene bag they use under new legislation brought in across England on Monday.

The new legislation doesn’t just apply to supermarkets, but all retailers who have 250 or more employees.

Yesterday they began charging at least five pence for the bags, both in store and for home deliveries.

Free bags will still be given for customers buying raw meat, poultry or fish, as well as certain fresh food products such as potatoes or flowers and take-away food such as chips.

People collecting prescription medicines can still receive a free bag as well.

Smaller shops are not affected by the new legislation – nor is national clothing retailer Primark, because it already uses paper bags, which are exempt under the law.

The legislation aims to tackle the number of bags being sent to landfill, which can take hundreds of years to bio-degrade and the Government expects the scheme will save £60m in litter clean-up costs across the country, while generating £730m for charity over the next 10 years.

The law comes after similar regulations were rolled out in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland a number of years ago.

Based on figures from these countries Tesco said it anticipates plastic carrier bag use in England to drop by nearly 70 per cent as a result.

The group communications director for Tesco, Rebecca Shelley, said: “It’s incredibly important we do our bit for the environment and we’re really proud of the work we’ve done in this area, particularly in reducing waste.

“We want to do everything we can to help our customers minimise the impact of the charge as well as their impact on the environment, by helping them recycle and re-use their bags.”

Meanwhile Morrisons said it expected the charge to provide a boost for charities through the Morrisons Foundation.

Morrisons group corporate services director Martyn Jones said: “This is a considerable change for customers and we are working hard to make our shoppers aware of the charge and provide them with a choice of reusable bags.

“The charge will be a boost for UK charities, it will help them deliver projects that will help make a real difference.”