Tesco has taken another step toward reducing the number of plastic carrier bags used in its supermarkets. The British retailer increased the price of a single bag from 3 to 5 cents (euro) in its supermarkets in the Slovak Republic.
The €0.02 price hike comes a year after Tesco ended giving away plastic shopping bags for free. This move dramatically decreased the number of bags used, Tesco Slovakia spokesman Tomáš Feren?ák confirmed.
Other supermarket chains in Slovakia also charge for plastic carrier bags, and chains such as Metro or Moja Samoška also sell them for 5 cents. The prices of plastic grocery bags in the Coop Jednota chain vary, depending on the region, SME newspaper reports.
Earlier this year, the European Parliament backed plans to slash the use of plastic shopping bags. The EU directive leaves it up to individual member states whether to ban, tax or charge for thin plastic bags, but the aim is to halve their use by 2017, compared to 2010 levels. The final target is to reduce their use by 80 per cent by 2019. Every year, more than eight billion plastic bags end up as litter in Europe, causing enormous environmental damage, according to the European Commissioner for the Environment, Janez Poto?nik.
Annual per-capita consumption of single-use plastic bags varies greatly among the 28 member states of the European Union. It ranges from an estimated four plastic bags consumed per citizen in Denmark to over 466 plastic bags consumed per citizen, according to a recent study conducted for the European Parliament.
© 2014 European Supermarket Magazine – Europe’s grocery retail magazine, for all your breaking supermarket, convenience-store and FMCG news. Article written by László Juhász.
