Bag charge for British supermarkets

SHOPPERS in Britain could soon be charged for plastic bags, following Spain’s example in the fight against pollution.

A colossal eight million bags are thrown away each year in Britain, blighting the countryside and choking animals while taking hundreds of years to decompose.

Now new Farming Minister David Heath is insisting the government take action, supported by Tory MP Zac Goldsmith, who warned that England is ‘unfortunately miles behind’ other countries.

“If Columbus had dropped plastic bags over the side of his boat 500 years ago, there’s a pretty good chance they would still be floating around intact today,” said Goldsmith.

From January 2011 Spanish supermarkets began charging between two and 10 cents for plastic bags, with the Junta de Andalucia introducing a tax on single-use carrier bags in May of that year.