Single-use carrier bag usage in the UK increased by 5% to 6.4bn during January 2010 to December 2010 compared to 6.1bn in June 2009 to May 2010, according to the Waste and Resources Action Proramme (WRAP).
The growth came after several years of decline when measures were put in place to reduce the amount of single-use bags given to customers from 2006 figures of 10.7bn.
WRAP said the figures show that on average people now use 8.6 single-use bags per month, compared to 14.7 bags per month back in 2006 and 8.2 bags per month between June 2009 and May 2010.
Overall, a total of 6.8 billion carrier bags including single-use, bags-for-life and reusable bags such as those made from cotton and jute were used in 2010 compared to 10.9 billion bags being used in 2006, an overall reduction of 37%.
However, it represents a 6% increase compared to the total number of bags used in 2009-2010 when 6.5 billion bags were used.
There has been a 61% reduction in the amount of virgin polymer used in all carrier bags since 2006, indicating that bags contain more recycled content, WRAP said.
