The Co-op wants its baskets back

Friday 29th August 2008, 11:30AM BST.

Santa Skaba at the Co-op in St Martin’s. The store chain has seen hundreds of baskets go missing since the start of charging for plastic bags. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0630997)

TAKING a shopping basket home instead of paying for a plastic carrier bag is proving too popular for some shoppers.
Co-operative stores alone have seen 300-400 baskets go missing since the new scheme, under which customers must pay 5p for a single-use bag, came into place.
Retail controller Colin Macleod said stocks of baskets had been going down.
‘We have had to replace all the ones that have gone missing, which is a cost concern,’ he said. ‘I understand that the introduction of paying for carrier bags has posed a problem for many customers and we have had to look at how to tackle the problem.’
The Co-op has now announced a basket amnesty.