Plastic bag charge raises thousands of pounds for charity

The supermarket teamed up with Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help initiative, which sees grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to environmental and greenspace projects.

Lancashire Wildlife Trust will receive £12,000, Walton Park Friends Group £10,000 and Longridge Town Council £8,000.

Caroline Silke, head of community at Tesco, said: “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success. We have been overwhelmed by the response of our customers and the feedback has been brilliant.

“We can’t wait to see the money being put to use bringing these projects to life.

“Nominations for the next round of the initiative will open in April and we look forward to helping a further round of groups and projects bag their share of the bag charge fund.”

Voting ran in store from February 27 until March 6, with customers choosing which group they’d like to get the top award using a token given to them at the check-out in store.

Nominations and applications for the next round of Bags of Help funding will open on April 18. As well as applying direct, suggestions for projects can also be nominated by people living locally.