I think the UK should follow the republic of Ireland in its policy on plastic bags - introduce a purchase price (Plastax) to deter people from accepting one. The revenue generated from this tax can then be used for environmental projects but the ultimate goal is to reduce the overall consumption of bags by a similar amount as Ireland - 95%. Why not make it 100% though. Plastic bag manufacturers then switch to making reusable bags (ideally made from recycled material) and retailers benefit from selling those.

The numbers

500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year, worldwide.

Only 1 in 200 plastic bags in the UK are recycled (BBC).

About 1 million plastic bags are used every minute.

A single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade.

More than 3.5 million tons of plastic bags, sacks and wraps were discarded in 2008.

Plastic bags are the second-most common type of ocean refuse, after cigarette butts (2008)

Plastic bags remain toxic even after they break down.

Every square mile of ocean has about 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it.