M&S throwaway bags benefit Groundwork

Sir Stuart Rose with a reusable

Marks and Spencer has rolled out its 5p charge on single use carriers this week, as part of the company’s Plan A to reduce the amount of carrier bags by a third and sent no waste to landfill by 2012.

Profits raised from when carrier bags are still requested will be invested in greener living spaces around the UK. Environmental charity, Groundwork, will use the money to create parks, play and picnic areas, pets corners and gardens. The first five supported projects are located in Scarborough, Nottingham, Wigan, Hammersmith and Edinburgh.

Sir Stuart Rose, M&S Chief Executive said: ‘We’re delighted to be able to pledge our support to the first five ‘greener living spaces’ projects. Carrier bag charging works – we know through our trials that around 70 per cent of our customers will stop using single use carrier bags and will switch to using our bags for life.’

The company is keen to do the right thing and so it makes sense to donate rather than financially benefit from any profits, although by working along the same lines as an offset project it risks making the plastic bag less guilty because of the benefits.

Tony Hawkhead, Groundwork Chief Executive, called it a ‘win-win’, explaining; ‘plastic bag use is dramatically reduced whilst the ‘greener living spaces’ projects improve the local environment for everyone.’ Although Groundwork only benefits if customers don’t make the change that M&S is trying to encourage.