Introduction
England’s single-use plastic carrier bag charge is one of the quiet success stories of UK environmental policy. New figures reported by edie, drawing on Defra data, show that sales of single-use plastic bags at major retailers have fallen by 98% since the levy was introduced. As a carbon accountant, I find this case worth revisiting: it is a rare example of a low-cost behavioural policy delivering a measurable, sustained reduction in material consumption, and it offers a useful reference point for anyone modelling the impact of “nudge”-style interventions on Scope 3 packaging and consumer behaviour.
How the levy came about
The charge began on 5 October 2015, when large retailers in England were required to charge a minimum of 5p for single-use plastic carrier bags. Before the levy, retailers gave these bags away free, with the cost hidden within the price of goods, and consumption had been rising: the seven main grocery retailers issued around 7.64 billion single-use bags in 2014, equivalent to roughly 140 bags per person in England. The scheme drew on earlier experience in Wales, where a similar charge had already cut supermarket bag use by around 80%. On 21 May 2021, the charge was doubled to 10p and extended from large retailers to all businesses, though only large retailers remain obliged to report their figures to Defra.
The scale of the reduction
The drop in bag sales has been dramatic and consistent, though the pace of decline slowed once the initial shock of the charge wore off. Early data showed a fall from 7.6 billion bags in 2014 to 1.7 billion by 2017-18 (a roughly 90% reduction), then continuing down to 549 million in 2018-19 and 226 million in 2019-20 (over 95%). Official Defra figures cited by edie and corroborated elsewhere show that by 2022-23, the seven main retailers sold just 133 million bags, down from 197 million the year before, and government figures put the cumulative reduction versus 2014 at more than 98%.
| Reporting year | Bags sold, main retailers (millions) | Reduction vs 2014 baseline |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 (baseline) | 7,640 | – |
| 2017-18 | 1,700 | ~90% |
| 2019-20 | 226 | >95% |
| 2021-22 | 197 | – |
| 2022-23 | 133 | 98% |
| 2024-25 | 164 | Almost 98% |
This is not a straight line down, however. The most recent Defra reporting year (7 April 2024 to 6 April 2025) shows total reported bag sales across all 102 reporting retailers actually rose 7% year-on-year to 437 million, with main-retailer sales up 6% to 164 million, though both remain far below pre-charge levels. This slight rebound is a reminder that behaviour change from a pricing intervention needs reinforcement over time, or it can erode.
Estimating the plastic waste avoided per year
Defra’s pre-charge baseline data indicates that the 7.6 billion single-use bags issued in 2014 weighed around 61,000 tonnes in total, which works out to roughly 8 grams per bag. Applying this weight-per-bag figure to the most recent reporting year’s totals gives an estimate of the plastic waste now being avoided annually compared with the pre-levy baseline.[^7]
Using the main seven retailers’ 2024-25 figure of 164 million bags against the 2014 baseline of 7.64 billion, roughly 7.48 billion fewer bags are now sold by these retailers each year, equivalent to an estimated 59,700 tonnes of plastic avoided annually. If the comparison is widened to all 102 reporting retailers (437 million bags sold in 2024-25), the reduction is around 7.2 billion bags a year, or approximately 57,500 tonnes of plastic waste avoided annually versus the pre-charge baseline. Cumulatively, government figures put the total reduction at more than 7 billion bags since the charge began, a figure repeated consistently across parliamentary answers and Defra communications between 2023 and 2024. These are estimates derived from Defra’s own weight-per-bag ratio and reported sales volumes rather than directly published tonnage figures, so they should be read as indicative rather than exact.
Wider environmental and financial impacts
Beyond raw bag counts, the charge appears to have reduced plastic litter in the wider environment. The Great British Beach Clean recorded almost 50% fewer plastic bags found on beaches following the introduction of the 5p charge, and Defra’s own modelling projected that extending and raising the charge to 10p would cut littered bags from around 198 million items in 2020 to 55 million by 2030. The levy has also generated substantial charitable revenue: retailers have donated more than £190 million to good causes since the scheme began, with a further £7.7 million donated in 2024-25 alone from retailers covering around 90% of reported bag sales.
A caveat on scope and comparability
The Defra reporting regime only compels large retailers to submit data, so the 98% figure most widely quoted specifically reflects the seven main grocery retailers (Asda, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, The Co-operative Group, Tesco and Waitrose) rather than the entire UK retail sector. Academic analysis published in 2026 corroborates the broad trend but notes that the 2021 rise to 10p reinforced an already-established decline rather than triggering a second wave of similarly dramatic reduction, and that lower bag sales have reduced both charge revenue and charitable donations over time, creating a trade-off between environmental success and the funding stream the levy also generates.
Implications for sustainability practice
For sustainability and carbon accounting professionals, the plastic bag levy is a useful reference case when advocating for pricing-based interventions targeting single-use materials, since it demonstrates a durable, multi-year reduction achievable through a modest financial disincentive rather than an outright ban. It is also a caution: the 2024-25 rebound in sales suggests that even well-established levies require monitoring and periodic reinforcement (for example, price increases or extended scope) to sustain behavioural gains, a point relevant to anyone designing longer-term net-zero or circular economy interventions that rely on consumer-facing charges.
References
- Plastic bag use falls by more than 98% after charge … – The number of single-use carrier bags reported as sold by the main retailers was 133 million in 2022…
- Supermarket plastic bag charge has led to 98% drop in use in England, data shows – Ministers urged to learn from success of single-use bag fee, amid criticism that other measures have…
- Carrier bag charge: summary of data in England – GOV.UK – A summary of the data on single-use plastic carrier bags in England.
- Plastic bags – the single use carrier bag charge – By 2023-24, the reduction compared to 2014 was 98%.3 … the levy there now applies to all new carrier…
- The Single Use Carrier Bags Charges (England) Order 2015
- Defra hails 98 per cent drop in single-use plastic bag sales since … – Introduction of 5p plastic bag charge in 2014 has helped avoid seven billion carrier bags from going…
- When was the Plastic bag charge introduced and has it helped the environment? – THE number of plastic bags sold by the UK’s seven biggest supermarket chains has halved in the last …
- Plastic bag charge progress in England 2026 – The Planet Brief – Plastic bag charge progress in England 2026: official data shows almost 98% fewer main-retailer sing…
- Written questions and answers – Written questions, answers and statements – UK Parliament – Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.
- Evaluating England’s Plastic Bag Reduction Strategies, 2015-2025