Theresa May will today pledge to end the scourge of disposable plastic.

In a major speech on the environment, she will warn that future generations will be shocked by our throwaway culture.

She will unveil a 25-year strategy to eliminate all 'avoidable' plastic, including bottles, cups and most packaging.

'We look back in horror at some of the damage done to our environment in the past and wonder how anyone could have thought that dumping toxic chemicals, untreated, into rivers was ever the right thing to do,' she will say.

'In years to come, I think people will be shocked at how today we allow so much plastic to be produced needlessly.'

Prime Minister Theresa May is set to extend the 5p carrier bag charge to all retailers, including corner shops

Theresa May (pictured yesterday) is set to extend the 5p carrier bag to all UK retailers, including corner shops

Millions of pieces of plastic litter Penhale Sands Beach in Cornwall following Storm Eleanor and a run of northerly winds on January 9

The Prime Minister will:

Call on supermarkets to create 'plastic free aisles' to allow shoppers to help save the oceans;

Unveil a consultation on a levy on all single-use plastics, including disposable cups, cutlery and straws;

Extend the 5p carrier bag charge to all retailers, including corner shops, taking millions more bags out of circulation;

Announce plans to phase out all plastic cups and cutlery from Whitehall;

Launch a £10million scheme to pay for schoolchildren to visit wildlife sites;

Announce plans to use the £13billion foreign aid budget to help clean up oceans.

Work is already under way on whether to introduce a deposit return scheme on plastic bottles, but ministers are not yet convinced it will be effective.

The plans are part of a 25-year environment strategy which will cover everything from air pollution and litter to clean energy and sustainable housing.

Senior Tories believe the party's renewed focus on the environment could help attract younger voters. Ministers have already unveiled plans to crack down on the ivory trade and increase sentences for those who abuse animals.

At the weekend Mrs May confirmed she had dropped her controversial pledge to give MPs the chance to repeal the ban on foxhunting, which was blamed for hitting the Tories' election hopes last year.

The plans will take millions of bags out of circulation

But powerful media coverage, such as the Daily Mail's Turn the Tide on Plastic campaign and David Attenborough's TV series Blue Planet II, is said to have played a part in convincing the Prime Minister to act.

In a tough message to industry and consumers, she will say: 'We must reduce the demand for plastic, reduce the number of plastics in circulation and improve our recycling rates. To tackle it we will take action at every stage of the production and consumption of plastic.'

Mrs May will warn that Britain throws away enough single-use plastic each year to fill the Royal Albert Hall 1,000 times. Around the world 8.3billion tons of plastic have been produced since the 1950s – a figure set to quadruple in the next 30 years. Much of it is dumped in rivers and oceans. Mrs May will say the tide of plastic poison is causing 'immense suffering to individual creatures and degrading vital habitats'.

Across the world, a million birds and at least 100,000 turtles and other sea mammals die after eating or getting tangled in plastic waste.

In the English Channel, one in three fish caught is now found to contain plastic. In a recent beach clean-up, the Marine Conservation Society found an average of 718 pieces of litter for every 100 metres.

Even creatures living six miles down in the Mariana Trench, the deepest point in the Pacific, have been found to have eaten plastic particles.

The Prime Minister will announce plans to work with major retailers to introduce 'plastic-free aisles'.

The move is designed to rein in excessive packaging, including plastic wrapping on produce such as bananas and coconuts.

But Mrs May also wants manufacturers and retailers to look for more sustainable ways of packaging a vast range of goods. Ministers want to cut out all 'avoidable plastic waste' by 2042.

Mrs May will warn that Britain throws away enough single-use plastic each year to fill the Royal Albert Hall 1,000 times

Across the world, a million birds and at least 100,000 turtles and other sea mammals die after eating or getting tangled in plastic waste (pictured, Penhale Sands Beach on Wednesday)

This would include all single-use plastics which cannot be recycled, such as disposable coffee cups and polystyrene food trays, along with items that have a non-plastic alternative, including cutlery, straws, labels, bottles and most types of packaging. The idea of plastic-free aisles has been championed by the campaign group A Plastic Planet.

Co-founder Sian Sutherland said: 'It makes you want to wean yourself off our addiction to plastic. Then you go to the supermarket and realise it is incredibly hard to change.

War on Whitehall forks All plastic cups and cutlery will be banished from government buildings in Whitehall under plans outlined by Michael Gove. The Environment Secretary will today commit to removing 'all consumer single-use plastics'. Last year the Mail revealed that the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has used at least 2.5 million throwaway plastic cups in the past five years. That is the equivalent of more than 1,200 water and coffee cups a day. Incredibly, reusable cups were not even sold in the offices until civil servants received this newspaper's Freedom of Information request and ordered some as a 'trial'. Advertisement

'There is a sea of plastic, most of which will be used just one time and then will be on our planet forever. Supermarkets want to give us choice. And now we want the choice between buying our food in plastic or not.'

On foreign aid, the Prime Minister will pledge to use some of the budget to help developing countries tackle pollution and reduce plastic waste, increase marine protected areas in the UK and establish a protected 'blue belt' in overseas territories.

Mrs May will also pledge today to 'demonstrate global leadership' on the issue. It is set to be a key item on the agenda of this year's Commonwealth summit in London.

However, ministers will still face questions about whether they are being ambitious enough. Last week, the Commons environmental audit committee called for a 25p 'latte levy' on throwaway coffee cups – and a total ban if they are not made recyclable within five years.

Tanya Steele of the WWF environmental charity welcomed the idea of plastic-free aisles, saying the public 'don't want to be drowning in all this plastic, whether it's unnecessary packaging or endless bottles that can't be recycled'.

However, she warned the Government would ultimately have to 'think bigger' by phasing out all single-use plastics.

What a difference 5p makes: How carrier bag charge has seen use in supermarkets drop by up to 90% and raised millions for charity

By David Wilkes for the Daily Mail

The plastic bag levy was imposed on supermarkets and other large retailers in October 2105 following the Mail's successful Banish the Bags campaign.

The charge was designed to reduce the number of carriers shops hand out because each can take 1,000 years to degrade after being used for an average of 20 minutes.

As well as being an environmental disaster, the bags end up as litter on our streets, beaches, parks and in the countryside.

Samantha Harding, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said there had been a reduction in branded carrier bags, but the blue or black bags from smaller shops were as common as ever.

The area surrounding a Tesco Extra store in North Shields, North Tyneside, was covered in bags and litter in 2008

But 10 years on the same stretch of land is completely clear after the 5p bag charge was introduced

Welcoming news that these would also attract a charge, she said: 'The levy has started an amazing conversation about how we can avoid other unnecessary usages of plastic, such as bottles and straws, and packaging. It's opened people up to the idea of: 'Why are we using all these items when we don't actually need to?'

Allison Ogden-Newton of Keep Britain Tidy, which also campaigned for the bag levy, said: 'The charge has proved to be incredibly successful in changing behaviour, with [billions fewer] bags in circulation and we look forward to similar measures to reduce the impact of plastic bottles, coffee cups and other packaging on our environment.'

The full effect on supermarkets – and charities – is clear:

MARKS & SPENCER

Bag reduction: 90 per cent since a charge was introduced in 2008, with a reduction of around 500million bags a year.

Amount raised: During 2016/17 net proceeds resulting from charging for single-use carrier bags in England, Wales and Scotland came to £4.6million.

Good causes supported: Charities working to address health, social and environmental issues and international poverty, including Breast Cancer Now, UNICEF and WWF.

MORRISONS

Bag reduction: 80 per cent

Amount raised: £9.1million

Causes supported: CLIC Sargent cancer charity, Sue Ryder care.

TESCO

Bag reduction: 80 per cent (figure as of 2016, the latest available)

Amount raised: £41million

Causes supported: 9,000 projects ranging from improving community buildings and outdoor spaces to new equipment, training coaches and volunteers, and hosting community events. Customers can vote for the project they want the money to go to. Every two months, grants handed out up to £4,000 in 565 UK regions.

Tesco has raised a staggering £41million for charity and was able to support 9,000 projects

ASDA

Bag reduction: 90 per cent (2016)

Amount raised: £4-£5million

Causes supported: UCL Dementia Research Centre.

WAITROSE

Bag reduction: 70 per cent (2016)

Amount raised: £12million since 2015

Causes supported: UCL Dementia Research Centre, along with £1million to tackle plastic pollution, part of which is to support the Marine Conservation Society's beach and river clean-ups and other causes.

Asda has seen a bag reduction of 90 per cent since the 5p bag charge was introduced

CO-OP

Bag reduction: 74 per cent

Amount raised: £6million from bag charges and bag for life sales

causes supported: The Co-op's community fund, including Cruse Bereavement Care Bedfordshire, Birmingham Youth Clubs, Bristol North West Foodbank, RSPCA Leeds and community first responders around England.

ICELAND

Bag reduction: 80 per cent

Amount raised: £7.5million

causes supported: UCL Dementia Research Centre. 'We donate the whole of the 5p raised from each bag sale (excluding VAT collected by the Treasury) to UCL Dementia Research, making no deduction for costs,' an Iceland spokesman said.

Lidl have charged customers for bags since 1994 but completely removed the single-use bags from sale in 2017

ALDI

Bag reduction: Has charged for bags since 1990. 'Aldi has always charged for carrier bags, and as a result our customers are conditioned to reusing bags,' a spokesman said.

Amount raised: £4.5million-plus

causes supported: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Teenage Cancer Trust, Farm Africa, Red Cross.

LIDL

Bag reduction: Charged since 1994 and completely removed single-use bags from sale in July 2017.

Amount raised: £1million

causes supported: Keep Britain Tidy, CLIC Sargent.

SAINSBURY'S

Not taking part in scheme in England. Instead, selling 'reusable' orange, thicker plastic bags for 5p. These bags are not subject to levy but they still choose to donate profits to local charities. These profits, in addition to those from their 10p bags for life and the levy for their online single-use carrier bags, raised £5.5million last year.