Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Tesco customers will decide which local community projects in their area will receive money raised from the Government’s 5p plastic bag charge.
A total of £11.5 million raised from the sale of Tesco bags in the UK since October 2015 will be donated through Tesco’s new Bags of Help scheme, which is expected to be one of the biggest environmental improvement drives the UK has ever seen.
Customers will receive a token at the till to vote for the local project they think is most deserving. The projects will be nominated by local people and community groups, and whittled down to three for each area by special teams made up of Tesco colleagues from local stores.
More than 1,000 community projects will benefit from Tesco’s scheme. Grants of £8,000, £10,000 and £12,000 will be awarded to charities and groups across the UK for spending on environmental improvement projects. Bags of Help will be administered by UK environmental improvement charity Groundwork.
Tesco UK and ROI ceo Matt Davies said: “We wanted to give our customers the chance to choose the environmental projects they most want to benefit from the money raised through the bag charge.
“Our customers will help us make sure the money raised through the charge goes to make the biggest difference to local communities up and down the country.”
As well as providing funding for local improvement projects, the Government’s plastic bag charge has helped slash the number of plastic bags customers use during their weekly shop. Since the introduction of the charge in October, customers in England use 30 million fewer bags every week: a reduction of almost 80%.
