Published
Feb 20, 2023
Reading time
2 minutes
Download
Download the article
Print
Text size

Anya Hindmarch extends fully recyclable plastic bag to more retailers

Published
Feb 20, 2023

Anya Hindmarch's long-running crusade to red retail of plastic carrier bags has gained pace.The UK designer is teaming up with the major UK retailers Asda and the Co-op in a major step to put fully reusable/recyclable bags into every supermarket.


Photo: Asda/Co-op



Billed as “the next generation reusable shopping bag”, they can be reused for up to a decade. Asda will begin stocking the bag, adding its bright green colourway to the large tote which features a smiley face and stripy straps. 

They will feature in 300 stores from the end of February. The Co-op’s blue version will appear in March.

They follow similar deals with Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Selfridges late last year, with each brand stocking Hindmarch’s ‘universal bag’ design in their signature colours.

The designs are a response to evidence that, while distribution of single use plastic bags dived 95% in the main supermarkets between 2015 and 2020, nearly half a billion were still sold from 2020 to 2021 – five years after a government levy on carrier bags was introduced.

“We can do it better,” Hindmarch told The Guardian newspaper: “There are something like 8 billion tonnes of plastic on the planet and that is really shocking when you think about it.

“You have got to keep pushing and talking about it. People need to be aware that you can’t carry on buying something and using it for 10 minutes and chucking it in landfill.

“There is nothing better than using the bag you already have,” she says but the “universal bag” is designed to be something desirable, useful and durable enough to be reused multiple times – with the intention that it can last 10 years.

She added: “We are in talks with lots of people across lots of different countries. It’s a really big project and it’s exciting the impact it is having. It is not only about directly saving materials from landfill but the conversations we are having and trying to find a better solution. It is about everyone coming together and giving their best knowledge into this project.”

Copyright © 2024 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.