Marks And Spencer’s Ethics And Sell-By Dates
IN a bid encourage its customers to go green, Marks & Spencer is to start charging for plastic bags.
The new scheme, starting in the summer, is being trialled at 14 stores in Northern Ireland where customers will have to pay 5p for every carrier bag they use.
If successful, the scheme will be introduced across the UK later in the year with other retailers also likely to follow suit.
While the Republic of Ireland saw plastic bag use fall by 90 per cent when it introduced a tax back in 2002, the British government has continually dodged the issue. However, if the new M&S scheme is successful, ministers may be forced to act.
It is estimated that shops in the UK hand out over 13 billion carrier bags every year with most of them ending up in landfill sites, where they take up to 500 years to break down.
M&S are expected today to announce profits of over £1 billion, up a quarter on last year, with experts attributing this success to the company’s growing image as an ethical retailer.
M&S competitors Sainsbury’s and Tesco are accused of deliberately extending sell-by and use-by dates on fresh food on a BBC 1 ‘Whistleblower’ documentary tonight.
Posted: 22nd, May 2007 | In: Money Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
