According to the Co-op, the average English person uses 134 bags every year – that’s 323 bags per household, which on average are discarded after only three minutes. In the UK the grocery industry ...

Biodegradable plastic carrier bags are more toxic than conventional plastic bags, a new study has found. Researchers analysed three types of bags – a compostable bag made of vegetable starch, a ...

Tesco has ditched its 'eco-friendly' carrier bags after research revealed they may be more environmentally damaging than conventional plastic bags. Last year, the retailer handed out more than two ...

Plastic bags that are marketed as "biodegradable" and "compostable" are still capable of carrying a full load of shopping three years after they have been discarded, research has revealed. The ...

Bags made of supposedly biodegradable plastics remain intact and useable three years after being dropped in the sea or buried underground, researchers have found. "Our results showed that none of the ...

Plastic carrier bags that claim to be biodegradable were still intact and able to carry shopping three years after being exposed to the natural environment, a study has found. The research for the ...

A plastic bag subermerged in soil for three years was shown to still be able to hold shopping Biodegradable plastic bags can still carry shopping three years after being left in a natural environment.

The European Commission is to publish proposals in the spring designed to reduce the number of plastic bags used in Europe each year. Most of the 15,000 people who took part in a public consultation ...

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or ...

Plans to exempt biodegradable plastic bags from a new 5p charge - which comes into effect in England in October 2015 - have been dropped. It comes after fears they would contaminate the plastics ...