Carrier bags

We've switched from selling single-use carrier bags to 100% compostable bags.

Our new carrier bags are charged at 10p per bag.

We introduced a charge for single-use carrier bags after changes in the law came into force in autumn 2015.

Since then, single-use carrier bag use in our food stores has reduced by more than 70 per cent. We've now removed single-use carrier bags from our stores and replaced them with our compostable bags.

A percentage of proceeds from carrier bag sales will continue to go towards good causes and environmental initiatives through our Community Champions scheme. We’d love to hear from environmental groups who could benefit from the scheme. Just drop us a line at community@lincolnshire.coop or call the Community team on (01522) 544632.

How can you reuse them?

Our new compostable carriers have been designed to biodegrade faster, which will reduce our impact on the environment.

They make great liners for kitchen compost caddies.

They can also be used to line food waste bins in places where local authorities offer such a service - we hope this will be offered in our area eventually.

Our bags are compostable but not recyclable, please do not put this bag or any other plastic bag into any recycling collection.

You can read more about our efforts to go green here.

More about our policy on carrier bag charges...

• The aim of the legislation is to reduce bag usage. With this in mind, we have taken the decision to charge for ALL single use carrier bags - even if they contain uncooked meat. All of our meat is prepacked and therefore shouldn't need any additional packaging.

• Our stance on this is the same as all other major retailers.

• Bags intended to be used solely to contain wholly or partly unwrapped food are not chargeable. This includes items purchased loose from in store bakeries or deli counters (which will be packaged by counter staff). However, if anything else is added to the bag it becomes chargeable.

• If a customer requests one we can provide a 'barrier bag'. These are small produce bags with no handles which are free to a customer if they are used for food safety / contamination control purposes.