HAMPSHIRE based B&Q, the UK's largest DIY chain, is to begin charging customers 5p for plastic carrier bags, it announced today.
The move is designed to encourage shoppers to reuse carrier bags or avoid them altogether.
Plastic bags are difficult to recycle, with millions ending up in landfill sites, and can prove fatal to wildlife through suffocation and strangulation.
B&Q is introducing the 5p levy in its 33 branches in Scotland in a pilot scheme. If successful, the chain says it will roll the charge out to the rest of its UK stores.
Proceeds from the sale of the plastic carrier bags will go to Keep Scotland Beautiful, which aims to reduce litter on streets and the countryside.
B&Q says it gives out seven million plastic bags a year in Scotland alone and estimates the 5p charge will reduce the figure by up to 90 per cent.
A survey of 12,000 B&Q customers across the UK found 47 per cent had more than 20 plastic carrier bags stored at home.
Stuart Boags, B&Q director of operations in Scotland, said: "The evidence of the negative impact of plastic carrier bags on the environment is clear. Through this pilot we hope to show that we and our customers can benefit the environment."
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