Anya Hindmarch brings circular shopping bags back with Tesco and Morrisons

Luxury fashion brand Anya Hindmarch is once again collaborating with supermarkets to create a reusable and fully recyclable shopping bag to promote the idea of a circular economy.

The concept, which was birthed by Hindmarch’s ‘I’m Not A Plastic Bag' tote in 2007, aims to drive meaningful change across the food retail industry. While the use of single-use plastic has reduced dramatically, with sales falling in main supermarkets by 95% between 2021-2022. Despite this, according to recent Government data, nearly half a billion single-use plastic bags were still sold between 2021-2022.

Since its launch, the Universal Bag project - designed by Anya Hindmarch and manufactured by Solent - has diverted over 150 tonnes of plastic from landfill, the equivalent of more than 12 London double-decker buses.

Anya Hindmarch, Founder and Creative Director, commented: "The Universal Bag project has saved over 150 tonnes of virgin plastic from landfill to date, the equivalent weight of over 12 London double-decker buses. Plastic pollution remains a pressing environmental issue but working together with major global food retailers shows how the solution needs to be collaborative."

The Tesco version, available from the end of July in 250 stores nationwide, will be available in their core brand colours of blue with red handles.

Jan Marchant, Home and Clothing CEO at Tesco, said: "Anya has been at the forefront of the plastic bag reduction campaign for many years, and here at Tesco, we are always looking at ways to reduce the amount of plastic we use.

"Since 2019, we have removed over 2 billion tonnes of plastic from our operation, including over 200 million plastic bags from our Tesco.com deliveries alone. This is why we were passionate to team up with Anya to bring such a fantastic product to our customers in such an appealing colourway that I am sure our customers will love."

The Morrisons version, available from September in 400 stores nationwide, will be in their core brand colours of yellow with green handles. Both versions will retail for £10.

The partnerships with Tesco and Morrisons follow the successful editions with Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose and Selfridges Food Halls in the UK.

Ashley Simons, CEO at Solent, added: "The Universal Bag is a beautiful and high-performing product that encourages customers to buy into reusability and sustainability; it’s not a bag you’d ever feel comfortable throwing in the bin.

"Given the durability of the bag, ideally, it will never need to be recycled but, if it does, we have made it easy for the customer to get it back into the recycling stream – a process that has never been done before. The Universal Bag is a true market first and another step change in our mission to end single-use plastic bag usage for one and for all."