Tesco to increase bag for life price by a third

Tesco is increasing the price of its bag for life by a third.

The supermarket is expected to raise the price of its cheapest reusable shopping bag to 40p this week.

The move comes after Sainsbury’s similarly raised the price of its bag for life from 30p to 40p earlier this month.

“We encourage customers to bring shopping bags with them to cut down on plastic, but we sell a wide range of reusable bags in case they are needed,” a Tesco spokesman told The Grocer.

“Our cheapest bags for life cost 40p and are made of 100% recycled plastic. They can be reused many times, and if they become worn out can be replaced for free at our customer service desks and recycled again,” the spokesman added.

Sainsbury’s move sparked mixed views across social media. “Instead of moaning, just take your own bag to the shop,” one shopper posted on Facebook. Another argued: “This is absolutely ridiculous if I forget my carrier bag it’s there loss – just don’t buy anything.”

Supermarkets and other large retailers have been required to charge for all plastic bags since 2015, initially at least 5p and later 10p or more.

Tesco in 2017 announced all single-use bags in its stores would be replaced by a ‘bag for life’ made from 94% recycled plastic. It was initially sold for 10p. The bags are now made from 100% recycled plastic.

Earlier this year as part of a major marketing campaign, the Tesco logo was temporarily removed from the bag for life, and replaced with other five-letter words including Treat, Party, Laugh and Share.

Whether the introduction of reusable bags for life has had an impact on the amount of plastic entering the waste stream is hard to ascertain. While retailers are required by law to record and report the number of plastic carrier bags they sell in England, this only applies to single-use bags.

The number of single-use plastic bags sold in England has risen by 7% in the past year, according to data released by Defra in August.

The 102 retailers in England who report the data sold 437 million single-use carrier bags in the year to April, up from 407 million in the previous year.

The Co-op has argued major retailers should be required to report on ‘bag for life’ sales too, given many shoppers “have simply traded up”.

“As a responsible retailer, we do not sell single-use plastic bags or bags for life and haven’t done since 2021 when we converted all our carrier bags to be 100% certified compostable, with all profits from sales going to good causes,” a Co-op spokesperson said.

The total figure of single-use plastic bags sold for the year to April 2025 is equivalent to around eight single-use plastic carrier bags per person in the UK.