Gosport MP, Caroline Dinenage, has commended the decision to increase the plastic bag charge to 10p and extend it to all retailers in April 2021.

Since the 5p charge was introduced in 2015, sales of plastic bags in major supermarkets have decreased 95%. This means that the average person is buying 4 plastic bags a year, in comparison to 140 in 2014.

Caroline herself has championed reducing the use of single-use plastic through supporting plastic free Parliament, doing her own #PlasticPledge for two years over lent where she did not buy any single-use plastic and through launching the first of its kind recycling initiative for coffee cups in Gosport with local manufacturer Huhtamaki.

She commented:

“I know that environmental protection is something that is very important to both myself and residents across the Gosport constituency.

“In our local area, we can visibly see the harm that single-use plastic is doing as it blights our beaches and oceans.

“This plastic bag charge has already had a huge impact and significantly decreased the amount of plastic bags that are harming our environment. This increase is another positive step to combating climate change and protecting our planet for future generations.”

Environment Secretary George Eustice said:

“We have all seen the devastating impact plastic bags have on the oceans and on precious marine wildlife, which is why we are taking bold and ambitious action to tackle this issue head on.

“The UK is already a world-leader in this global effort, and our carrier bag charge has been hugely successful in taking billions of harmful plastic bags out of circulation. But we want to go further by extending this to all retailers so we can continue to cut unnecessary waste and build back greener.

“I hope our pioneering track record on single-use plastics will inspire many more countries to follow suit, so we can take on plastic waste together and implement lasting change.”