We realized that it was only a matter of time before it started occurring. In a Tesco store located in Southeast London, security tags have begun to show up on the 10p “bags for life”. This is due to the theft that has occurred after they started charging 5p for standard one-time use bags.
Peter Young, a 29-year-old customer was furious when he saw the new tags attached to the recyclable bags. He posted a picture online and then asked Tesco in a tweet why they were doing it.
The supermarket replied
“@peteatsea Hi Peter I’ve spoken to the store and I’ve been informed that due to theft in the store the bags will be tagged.”
The reason why Tesco started charging 5p for the bags was because of a nationwide law. It was put into place to help reduce the issue of littering and to assist with cleaning up the environment. It would also end up saving £60 million due to litter cleanup and would generate approximately £570 million for good causes.
The law would be in effect for any retailer that had more than 250 individuals on staff full-time. Tesco fell under that umbrella, so they had to start charging 5p for each plastic bag that was used.
