Plastic Bags On Beaches Have Reduced By 80% Since Charge Introduced

Since a mandatory charge for plastic bags was introduced to UK supermarkets and shops, it has been revealed that the amount of plastic shopping bags found on the country’s beaches has sharply fallen by 80 percent.

The findings are from the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), thanks to the organization’s volunteers who report the types of litter they find while carrying out beach cleanups. Following three decades of beach monitoring, it has been revealed that in 2014 five plastic bags would be picked up every 100 metres on beaches, but this year the number has dropped to an average of one bag per 100 metres. The group concluded this decline has been in effect since the introduction of the plastic bag charge.

Besides beach waste, the charge has seen a 98 percent drop in customers asking for plastic bags at the checkout at the main retailers: Tesco, Waitrose, Asda, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, and The Co-operative Group. The charge ranges from 5p to 25p. These large shops saw the obligatory charges introduced in Scotland, Wales, England, and Northern Ireland rolled out between 2011 and 2015 across the four nations. Wales aims to ban single-use plastic bags entirely by 2026.

Governments must go further

A bird walking among plastic on a UK beach — Adobe Stock Single use plastic is a significant environmental problem

Lizzie Price, Beachwatch program manager at MCS, has urged UK governments to go further with charges and bans on single-use plastic items and products, and to look at deposit schemes for cans, glass, and plastic bottles, which are seen in several mainland European countries, as well as Australia and Canada. The devolved UK governments have been working on a UK scheme, however this has been delayed until 2027.

“It is brilliant to see policies on single-use plastics such as carrier bags working,” Price said. She also added that “we must move quicker towards a society that repairs, reuses, and recycles.”

The 2023 beach litter report conducted by the MCS found the majority of litter was from drinks, with cans and bottles making up 97% of beach waste. The report is comprised of 1,199 beach surveys, which discovered 4,684 plastic bags. For this year’s Great British Beach Clean, set to take place 20th-29th September, more than 100 volunteer beach clean-ups have been organized.