Card Factory chops off plastic bag handles to get round 5p charge

Credit: PA

Budget greetings card firm Card Factory is dodging the government's 5p bag charge by giving customers their goods in a bag without handles.

A spokesperson for the Wakefield-based company told trade journal Plastics News: "The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has confirmed that not charging for bags without handles complies with the regulations as they stand."

The firm still offers standard 5p bags, but has chopped the handles off thousands of bags to hand out free to customers.

Since the government introduced the 5p bag charge in England in October, retailers have reported a drastic reduction in the number of single-use carriers.