New data published by WRAP shows that carrier bag use in 2012 increased by 1.3 per cent to 8.1 billion bags used by supermarket customers.
However, this represents a decrease of 34 per cent compared to 2006 when reporting began.
The amount of thin gauge (single-use) bags used per month by supermarket customers increased from 10.5 in 2011 to 10.7 in 2012.
In 2012, total carrier bags (including re-useable bags) weighed 70,400 tonnes, compared with 72,300 tonnes in 2011. Overall, there has been a 36 per cent decrease of weight of carrier bags from the baseline year of 2006.
Between 2011 and 2012, there was a 2.4 per cent decrease in the use of virgin polymer used in all carrier bags, representing a 50 per cent reduction in the amount of virgin polymer used since 2006.
