Anya Hindmarch partners with Asda and Co-op for circular shopping bags
Luxury fashion brand Anya Hindmarch is collaborating once again with supermarkets to create a durable, re-usable shopping bag that can be recycled at the end of its life, embracing the concept of the circular economy.
Sixteen years ago, the ground-breaking 'I Am Not A Plastic Bag' campaign raised awareness of the global issue of single use plastic bags. Since then, the use of single use plastic bags has reduced dramatically, with sales falling 95% in the main supermarkets between 2015 – 2020, after the UK Government introduced legislation to address the issue.
Whilst this is good progress, nearly half a billion single use plastic bags were still sold in the UK between 2021 – 2022, according to recent Government data. Anya Hindmarch, in collaboration with global retailers, has created a new campaign designed to inspire further change in consumer behaviour.
This spring sees the launch of the two latest versions together with two of the UK’s biggest supermarkets, Asda and Co-op. The Universal Bag is the next generation of reusable bag - a desirable, durable, reusable, 100% recycled and recylable shopping bag.
The Asda version, available from the end of February in 300 stores nationwide, will be in their brand green, while the Co-op version, available from 315 stores nationwide from end March, will be in their brand blue. These partnerships follow the successful and ongoing editions with Sainburys’, Waitrose and Selfridges Food Halls in the UK. More global partnerships will be announced later in the year.
Designed by Anya Hindmarch, and manufactured by the Solent Group, the Universal Bag, retails with all partners for £10 and comes with a 10 year guarantee. Should a customer wish to recycle the bag, it can simply be folded it into its free returns pocket for a replacement.
Anya Hindmarch, Founder and Creative Director, commented: “Since launching The Universal Bag, we have saved over 97 tonnes of virgin plastic from landfill, the equivalent weight of over 8 London double decker buses. The problem of single use plastic is far from solved. Working together with major global food retailers shows how the solution needs to be collaborative and that together we can make a big difference.”
Sam Dickson, Acting Chief Customer Officer at Asda, added: “We’re thrilled to partner with Anya Hindmarch on the Universal Bag project and support such an important issue. The opportunity to create our own exclusive version meant we were able to give our customers a great quality, sustainable product, in our trademark ‘Asda green’!”
