Tesco ditches biodegradable bags
Tesco has stopped using biodegradable carrier bags in its stores after government funded scientific research found that they may damage wild life and harm the environment.
The supermarket chain also highlighted customers concerns that they were weak and likely to break.
Tesco said it began changing from biodegradable bags to bags containing 15% recycled material earlier this year. However, the company has made no official announcement on the change.
A spokesman said: “We took the decision to remove the biodegradable additive because we believed it contributed towards bags becoming weaker and to help better promote their re-use and recycling at end of life.
“This decision was underpinned by a detailed review of the science to help us understand the full life-cycle environmental impacts of our carrier bags.”
The news comes after official figures showed that an extra 330million plastic bags have been used by customers in supermarkets in the past year. It is the first time the total has gone up in five years.
