ALL Morrisons supermarkets are to offer 20p paper carrier bags in a bid to tackle plastic bag waste.

Customers in Wales will be the first to see the change.

The bags will then roll out to stores in England and Scotland in May.

The paper bags have been trialled in eight Morrisons stores since January and are strong enough to carry weights up to 16kg.

They will be priced at 20p, which will be the same price as Morrisons standard plastic carrier bags.

Andy Atkinson, Group Customer and Marketing Director, at Morrisons said: “We are taking another meaningful step that will remove an estimated 1,300 tonnes of plastic out of the environment each year.

“Our customers have told us that reducing plastic is their number one environmental concern so introducing the paper bag across the nation will provide another way of reducing the plastic in their lives.”

Morrisons say they have also assessed the bag’s carbon footprint and it is equivalent to the standard plastic carrier bag.

It is the latest in a series of moves by the supermarket to reduce plastic use over the last 12 months.

They include removing single use 5p carrier bags, moving all loose fruit and vegetables to be sold in paper rather than plastic, and removing plastic packaging from many items such as plastic sleeves from cucumbers during the British growing season.