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Carrier Bags

Carrier Bags

Environmental issues have been becoming increasingly important over the last few years - from consumers to politicians, businesses to charities, everyone’s talking about it. So as a retailer, how does this affect you and what should you be doing about it?

Political Developments

Carrier bags may only be a small proportion of the waste we produce – but they are viewed as a powerful symbol of our throwaway society. With around 10 billion bags being given away in the UK each year - that’s about 10 bags a week for every household - not only are they an eyesore when disposed of irresponsibly, but also a cause of harm to wildlife including marine mammals, fish and birds. The issue of carrier bags has been increasingly on the political agenda of all Government’s in the UK.

In February 2007 the retail industry signed up to a voluntary ambition to reduce the environmental impact of carrier bags by 25% by the end of 2008. This was a challenging target even for the large supermarkets, so for independent retailers it is an even more ambitious aim. UK retailers were successful in reaching their target.

In 2008 the UK Government placed powers into the Climate Change Bill that would stop single use carrier bags from being given away for free if they didn’t think retailers were doing enough to reduce carrier bag usage. Supermarkets have now set themselves a target to reduce the number of carrier bags given away by 50% in 2009 against 2006 levels. In February 2009 the Welsh Assembly announced that they would be introducing a ‘tax’ on free single use carrier bags by 2010. The political debate and the work that ACS is doing on carrier bags continues.

Here we explain what the concerns are, initiatives that some ACS members have undertaken and provide a simple Carrier Bag policy for you to apply in your store.

Voluntary Code of Practice

Whilst the 50% target is only for supermarkets the Government is still looking for efforts within the rest of the retail sector to reduce carrier bags. Retailers interested in reducing carrier bag usage can sign up to the Voluntary Code of Practice.

The Voluntary Code of Practice is for retailers that aren’t supermarkets. This commitment does not require signatories to agree to a numerical target on reducing the number of bags handed out. However, some signatories may wish to adopt targets of this nature and may wish to report progress on these targets to the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

Key steps for all signatories

All signatories to the voluntary code of practice are asked to sign up to the following pledge; “As a business we commit to asking customers if they need a bag at check-out or till, instead of giving one automatically.”

For businesses that would like to go further than this there is a range of additional pledges that you can sign your business up to. These include, but are not limited to... 

• Customer communications – encourage reuse of bags by displaying posters and using materials from campaign toolkits.
• Promote reuse of bags - Promote bags for life and reusable bags, and encourage consumers to reuse ordinary vest bags where appropriate.
• Reward reuse of bags – use existing loyalty schemes to give a bonus, provide a discount for bag reuse, donate to charity when customers reuse their bags.
• Promote alternatives – provide a bag for life or reusable bag, encourage customers to reuse their bags at your shop, consider deposit schemes for reusable bags. There is a good selection of ‘bags for life’ to choose from:
  - The One Bag http://www.theonebag.co.uk/ 
  - The Stuart Morris local fundraiser bag: http://www.stuartmorris.co.uk/products/fundraisers_2.htm  
  - Leighmans for cotton and polypropylene tote bags that can carry any promotional message you choose: http://www.leighmans.com/bags/tote-shopping-bags/?gclid=CO6F5MbO6ZECFQljMAoddjSzWg 
  - Jute bags http://www.jutebag.co.uk/new_product_shopping_bag_1.htm
• Review carrier bag sizes – consider changing a bag’s size but remember to consider its reuse potential. 
• Review gauge (thickness) of bags – reducing gauge may improve environmental performance but remember to consider its reuse potential.
• Actions at check-out/till – discourage the use of carrier bags for small single items, remove self service carrier bags from checkout and counter areas.
• Staff communications and training – engage staff at all levels to ensure that they are informed and involved.
  - For some retailers, it may be appropriate to set targets for individual stores as well as establish inter-store competitions for bag reduction.
  - Bag Champions could be appointed to promote bag reduction
• Consider charging for bags – consult customers, run a trial and communicate in-store the charging scheme (see guidance below).
• Encourage recycling (after re-use) – provide recycling collection point or information on where to find one locally; and use bags with high recycled content. Information on recycling facilities for plastic carrier bags available here:
  - England: www.recyclenow.com/what_can_i_do_today/can_it_be_recycled/plastic/carrier_bags.html
  - Scotland: www.sort-it.org.uk
• Use bags with a lower environmental impact - distribute bags that have a less harmful impact on the environment (for example, lower weight, higher recycled content, or alternative materials.
• Work together with other businesses - collaborate with all retailers in the local area to have a bag free policy.

For more information or if you would like to sign up please contact Jenny Brown on 01252 515001 by email at jenny.brown@acs.org.uk

How to introduce a new policy:

Staff Training

If you do introduce a carrier bag policy you will need to train your staff so that they understand the policy and are able to offer alternatives in a systematic way without alienating customers.

Adopting a charging scheme

If you decide that charging for carrier bags is something you can do in your business consider taking the following steps:

1. Consult your customers - running a consultation asking customers whether they support a charging policy helps you to bring along with you if you decide to go ahead. Use the consultation to decide what you do with the proceeds of charging, give options of a nominated charity or local cause. If you’re not sure about launching a campaign to reduce the use of carrier bags then it might be a good idea to ask your customers what they think first. ACS have put together an ‘in-store poll’ document that gives you the opportunity to gather feedback from your customers on the subject. The poll is in Word format and is designed to be used at your shop counter, simply ask people to fill it in before they leave. This might not be possible at busy times so you might want to find a more suitable location for it in the store, or stick to asking during quieter periods.  Carrier Bags - In Store Customer Poll
2. Display clear signage - use signage to explain why you have a charging policy and what is being done with the proceeds. ACS will develop signage relevant to each country in the UK.
3. Keep track and publicise your progress – this is a fantastic publicity opportunity as well as a way of reducing the numbers of carrier bags you use. If raising money for a charity also consider publicising how much you have raised and how the money has been used.

Toolkits

ACS has produced a range of printable posters that you can use in your shop. These posters have the following messages that are easily adaptable to whatever carrier bag policy you decide to introduce in your shop.

• “Do you really need a bag?” poster – this is a poster that simply carries this message for display at the cash desk.
• “We charge Xp for a bag. All profits go to……” – this poster allows you to enter the amount you charge for bags and also allows you to enter the name of the charity or good cause to which you will donate any profits.
• “If you don’t take a bag we will donate Xp to …..” – this poster gives you the option to donate as much as you want to a charity or good cause of your choice whenever people don’t use a carrier bag. 
• The Combined – this combines the two messages above into one poster.
• The “Amount Raised” poster – this allows you to display the amount raised each month and which charity or good cause it was donated to.

Download the posters here:

Do you really need a bag?   Do you really need a bag? poster
Bags cost   Bags cost poster
The Combined poster   The Combined poster
Money Raised   Money Raised poster
We donate to   We Donate To poster

We have also worked with each devolved administration to produce toolkits and posters for retailers to use. These coincide with the messaging that each of the countries within the UK have been publicising over 2009.

Wales:   welsh poster
England: www.recyclenowpartners.org.uk/retail_high_street/download_area/index.rma  
Scotland: http://www.wasteawarescotland.org.uk/html/bagsrtk.asp
Northern Ireland: to be available soon

Please Let us know what strategies you adopt and we will submit your case studies to the WRAP website.

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