Sainsbury's accused of hypocrisy over their not so ethical green bag  

On day the supermarket becomes first to stop free disposable carrier bags

Sainsbury's became the first major UK supermarket to stop giving out free disposable carrier bags in its stores on Friday 27th April.

To kick-start their first ‘Make the Difference’ day, Sainsbury’s free, disposable carrier bags were removed from checkouts during the day, and customers instead received free re-usable ‘Bags for Life’ which are made from 100% recycled material. On average customers will use these bags at least 20 times which the company believes will save an estimated 90 million disposable bags alone each year.

Sainsbury’s was expected to give customers over seven million ‘Bags for Life’ during the day. Dr Liz Goodwin, Chief Executive at WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme), says "WRAP welcomes this bold initiative by Sainsbury’s and we hope it results in a longer term change in our habits. Too many of us rely on free carrier bags when we shop and as a result 13 billion of them are used up every year in the UK."

Sainsbury’s hit the headlines this week when they sold out of Anya Hindmarch’s limited edition bags within a hour - although there were no handbags at dawn in Chiswick. Hindmarch developed the reusable ‘I’m not a plastic bags’ to help reduce the number of plastic carriers used by supermarket customers.

However it now transpires that this latest it bag is not quite as ethical as first thought. It has been revealed by the Standard that the designer shopper aimed at promoting green awareness was made using cheap labour in China.

Environmental campaigners believe that Sainsbury’s have tarnished its image and accused the supermarket of hypocrisy after it was admitted the bag was made in China and was neither organic nor fair trade.

April 27, 2007