Supermarkets to be Probed Over ‘High Pressure Sales Tactics’ of Plastic Bags

The 2015 introduction in England of a mandatory 5p charge for single-use plastic bags by large retailers was hailed as a great success by the environmental movement.  The number of bags used reportedly dropped by almost 90%.

However, the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ that monies raised are passed on to charities is not mandatory – and some high street chains are suspected of pocketing some of the extra proceeds themselves.

‘We’ve heard of several very dubious practices’ said a spokesperson for Banbury-based green charity WRAP.  ‘These include incentive schemes, whereby checkout attendants receive bonuses for selling large numbers of the bags’.

‘In one case, a sales assistant at a supermarket in the North of England made almost £10,000 in one year.  Secret filming by our Investigations Unit revealed that vulnerable elderly shoppers are particular targets.  They are perhaps the most diligent in re-using their bags – but the individual concerned claimed that it was illegal to re-use any bag that had previously contained food – as it risked causing infection to staff.  He also told shoppers that re-using plastic bags helped to fund drugs and prostitution – and he even threatened a 97 year old woman with police action after she began handing out pre-used bags to other shoppers “so I could do my bit for the planet”.

‘The average commission on each 5p plastic bag sold is 0.01 pence – so the sheer amount of mis-selling going on here is mind-boggling.  A £10,000 bonus is the equivalent of  100 million individual bags, so we strongly suspect the person had outside help.  Probably from so-called Islamic State, which has long-held ambitions to wreck the UK’s environmental efforts on plastic bags and coffee cups’.