It is six months since the introduction of the 5p charge for single-use plastic carrier bags in England, the last part of the UK to implement a charge. Here are six things we have learned since then:



1. Bag usage has plummeted

The overwhelmingly good news is that bag usage has slumped by around 80% and remains static. The UK’s largest retailer Tesco said in December that the number of bags had been slashed by 78% since the charge was introduced, while at Morrisons, plastic bag consumption was down 80% across its stores. Each major retailer (of more than 250 employees) is required under the regulations to report to the government by the end of May so the national, official picture should become clear in June.

2. Charities are benefiting

While retailers can choose what to do with the 5p proceeds, they are expected (though not legally bound) to donate it to good causes, and over the next 10 years the government hopes this will raise about £730m. Retailers have to report to ministers about where the money has gone, and eventually the government will also publish this information each year. However, so far Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme alone has attracted 8m votes from shoppers for local environmental projects that will benefit from the largest single injection of funding in the UK - more than £20m in the first year.

3. Shoplifting has gone up - or not?

There has only been mischievous anecdotal evidence on this, with reports of grumpy shoppers finding it easy to put unpaid for items in their own bag. However the Welsh government’s recent evaluation of its own carrier bag charge says this has not happened in Wales. Retailers taking part in a focus group admitted they were more likely to be suspicious of a shopper with a bag for life. But overall in Wales 92% of retailers said that the introduction of the charge had no impact on shoplifting, while only 4% said it had led to an increase and 1% said it has led to a decrease.

4. Consumers behaving badly

From carting our shopping home in trolleys to nicking bags, on social media there were some extraordinary - if thankfully isolated - examples of consumers resorting to bad behaviour in order to dodge the charge. Some shoppers boycotted stores in protest while others helped themselves to dozens of produce bags. In England there was an initial spike in trolley and shopping basket theft in supermarkets while Asda and Tesco added security tags to some baskets and even bags for life. And some shoppers could not resist stealing the bags themselves - an estimated 533m bags worth £27m were taken between October and January, according to a survey. A Birmingham-based entrepreneur even sold 100 carrier bags on Gumtree for £2 to undercut supermarkets.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Loading the weekly shop into the boot of the car using ‘bag for life’ carriers. Photograph: Anthony Morgan/Alamy

5. Retailers found loopholes

Certain foods are exempt, small businesses don’t have to charge and, if you’re buying a live goldfish, you don’t pay the 5p either. But small bags count, plastic wrappers too as long as they have a handle, and everywhere from clothes to book stores should be charging. Some retailers have taken advantage of the raft of confusing exemptions to sidestep having to impose the charge. For example, discount greetings cards retailer Card Factory chopped the handles off thousands of its carrier bags. A Card Factory spokesman said: “[The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs] has confirmed that not charging for bags without handles complies with the regulations as they stand.”

6. Chaos, what chaos?

The Daily Mail predicted “chaos” because retail staff would struggle with the complex rules, and as angry customers – steaming with resentment – led the descent into the equivalent of an English retail apocalypse. So far there seems to be no panic in the streets. Homeware retailer Lakeland has reported strong sales of colour-coded bags that fit in supermarket trolleys, while manufacturers of wheeled shopping trolleys have also enjoyed buoyant sales.