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The Government agreement with the British Retail Consortium covers seven of Britain's major supermarket chains. The agreement to reduce the volume of carrier bags provided to customers by 50 percent against 2006 levels, covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The number of bags saved by spring next year through this agreement would fill 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools, or fill the Royal Albert Hall one and a half times.

Today's pledge is also a step in the right direction to reach a 70 percent reduction in the longer term.

Jane Kennedy said:
"This is a bold commitment which will result in around five billion fewer bags being handed out. Supermarkets have already taken some imaginative steps to help us use fewer carrier bags and other high street retailers should look to them for inspiration. Of course, we can all play our part to reduce the number of carrier bags on our high streets and the Government will work closely with the BRC on a campaign to help us all to do so."

Stephen Robertson, BRC Director General, said:
"Together with other environmental initiatives, supermarkets are meeting their existing commitment to reduce the environmental impact of bags by 25 percent. They're now volunteering an ambitious new target to help customers halve bag use by next spring. Supermarkets have been so successful in this by taking customers with them in ways they find acceptable, by encouraging and rewarding. This new partnership with the Government, underpinned by action across the retail sector, offers exciting new opportunities to help our customers across the UK to do the right thing. It's one more step towards reducing waste and environmental impact."

Liz Goodwin, CEO of WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), said:
"The word from stores is that many more of us are re-using our bags. That is something we are working to encourage and WRAP will be playing its full part in this initiative. This agreement should act as a spur to all of us to remember to take our bags with us when shopping. Retailers and governments are now clearly working together to help all of us reduce the number of bags we use. The aim, which is at the core of WRAP's work, is a world which uses resources more efficiently."

Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco's Corporate and Legal Affairs Director, said:
"We were the first retailer to set our own reduction targets on carrier bags more than 2 years ago and since that time we have saved more than 3 billion bags.

"The great news is that these savings have been brought about through incentives and rewards for customers who reuse their bags. We have always believed that penalising customers by forcing them to pay for bags will not achieve lasting changes in behaviour and we are pleased that the Government appears to support this approach.

"These are challenging targets for the industry and the government's longer term targets are even more stretching, but we believe that customers understand the environmental and practical benefits of reusing bags and with continued encouragement they will help us achieve these even bigger reductions.

"In November, we removed carrier bags from all our tills and staff now offer bags to those customers who need them."

Progress on the agreement will be monitored by WRAP and reviewed in 2010.