A levy on plastic bags in supermarkets, which comes into force today, will raise more than £70m per year for charities, according government estimates.

From today retailers with more than 250 employees will have to charge 5p for all single-use carrier bags to encourage people to reuse bags and reduce the amount of waste generated by discarded carrier bags. Scotland and Wales have already introduced similar levies.

Many retailers plan to donate the money raised through the levy to charity and the government estimates that this could raise £73m per year for charities. And that over the course of ten years £730m will be raised for good causes.

Since the levy was introduced in Wales in 2011 it has raised £22m.

Who is set to benefit?

• Morrisons plans to support its own foundation, the Fourrisons Foundation, and its charity of the year partner, Sue Ryder.
• Marks & Spencer, which introduced a 5p levy for standard sized food bags in 2008, has seen the carrier bag use in its food halls fall by 75 per cent, will donate the money raised from the charge to local charities and community causes from today.
• Sainsbury’s said it will donate the money raised to local charities.
• Tesco will donate the money to local environmental projects and customers will be able to vote on what should receive funding.

Klara Kozlov, head of corporate clients the Charities Aid Foundation, said: “It is great to see that retailers in England look set to follow the lead of supermarkets and big shops in Wales and Scotland by using this new levy to support a wide range of good causes from local community groups to big environmental charities.

“Evidence suggests that the introduction of a plastic bag charge in England will not only lead to a significant reduction in carrier bags being issued, but it will do a huge amount to help charities carry out their important work.“