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Tesco deducted £3.4m from charity plastic bag sales last year for admin costs

Tesco sells more plastic bags than any other UK supermarket - © 2015 Bloomberg Finance LP.
Tesco sells more plastic bags than any other UK supermarket - © 2015 Bloomberg Finance LP.

Tesco has been criticised for deducting millions of pounds from charity donations generated by the plastic bag tax in order to cover "administration costs".

New government data shows that Britain's biggest supermarket sold 637m carrier bags in the year to March 2017, raising almost £32m in proceeds.

But it withdrew £3.4m of this to cover the “cost of administering donations”, equivalent to more than 10pc of the total.

The government figures show that no other major supermarket – including Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Waitrose – made any such deductions from plastic bag sales, and instead passed on all proceeds to charities.

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The plastic bag tax was introduced in England in October 2015, requiring all employers with more than 250 staff to charge customers in England 5p for disposable plastic bags – the proceeds of which typically go to good causes, although this isn't a legal requirement.

Plastic pledges | Five practical ways to prevent plastic entering the ocean
Plastic pledges | Five practical ways to prevent plastic entering the ocean

Tesco customers have used the most 5p single-use carriers over the past year compared with other supermarket customers, with statistics by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs in July revealing that more than 637 million bags were used by Tesco customers over 12 months, compared to 165 million bags used at Asda, and 51 million bags used at Sainsbury's.

While Tesco has given out 1.5 billion fewer single-use bags since the introduction of the carrier bag charge, it still sells more than 700 million each year.

Companies are allowed to deduct a portion of the plastic bag revenue to cover the administering of donations, however Tesco was the only major UK supermarket to do so.

A spokesman for the supermarket said that because it wants to give its customers a choice of where the money from plastic bag sales goes, the scheme is more costly to run.

He said: “Our Bags of Help scheme ensures that customers get a say in how the money they spend on bags is spent in their community.

"Since launching in 2015, our Bags of Help initiative has provided more than £33m to over 6,400 local community projects. A small proportion of the money raised is used to run and administer the scheme in partnership with the charity Groundwork, who help distribute the money to good causes.”

The number of plastic bags Tesco sells each year
The number of plastic bags Tesco sells each year

Mary Creagh MP, chair of the environmental audit committee, said: "The legislation for the 5p plastic bag charge is clear that the money raised should go to good causes.

"Five years after the horsemeat scandal and three years after a false accounting scandal, Tesco finds itself again in the spotlight for doing the wrong thing,” she said.

Last month, Tesco revealed that it would be scrapping its 5p plastic carrier bags from August 28 and replacing them with a new 10p Bag for Life made from 94pc recycled plastic.

Removing the 5p single-use carrier bags will "significantly reduce the number of bags sold and will therefore help reduce litter and bags sent to landfill," Tesco said at the time.

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How to connect with us | Telegraph Business on social media