Love them or loathe them, they are cluttering up our environment.

Plastic carrier bags can be a convenience for carrying shopping but when discarded inappropriately they can look unsightly tagged to a tree or even worse filling the ground. Yet we continue to use them.

According to WRAP, a not-for-profit company working in partnership to help businesses, individuals and communities improve resource efficiency, around eight billion single-use bags were handed out to supermarket consumers in the UK in 2012.

To combat our use of the carrier, the Government is planning to introduce a 5p charge on single-use plastic bags in England from next year – but will this prompt more people to boycott the bag?

Six years ago, Marks & Spencer launched a 5p charge for its carrier bags. “In our experience, a modest charge for single-use carrier bags has proved very effective – the 5p charge has helped us reduce carrier bag use by over 70 per cent in our food halls. That’s more than two billion fewer bags since its introduction in 2008, and more than £6m has gone to good causes as a result,” says a spokesman.

In September 2007, Hebden Bridge launched a campaign to ban the plastic bag. Former ‘Bag Lady’ Mandi Paramor, who was involved in the year-long campaign, says it helped to raise awareness of the potential damage that plastic bags can cause to our environment.

In this environmentally-aware town, the consciousness of the campaign remains with those shoppers who swapped plastic for cloth. “The thing you see in Hebden is people always carry cloth shopping bags because it is an environmentally-aware town anyway,” says Mandi.

“But I think more people are carrying their own shopping bags now, and I think that is the one thing that has been quite successful – when you go shopping you see many people, particularly in supermarkets, with their own shopping bags.”

Mandi believes the Government’s plans to introduce the token charge on single-use plastic bags will focus people’s minds more.

“I think it focuses people’s minds about the use of plastic in general and if it encourages people to take their own shopping bag it is a good thing.”

Carlton Smith, chief executive officer of Bradford Community Environment Project, also welcomes the initiative. “I think it is an excellent idea if it stops plastic bag trees sprouting around the district. Plastic bags are being blown away and bounced down the street and end up in trees.

“I think they are damaging to wildlife in the hedgerow, they can ensnare and trap animals and smother plants, and you also have the carbon footprint element.

“Plastics do not degrade in the environment – they break up into small bits of plastic, so any reduction of our use of plastics is a good step forward in my view.”

Carlton says if charging 5p for a carrier bag will prompt people to put a bag in their pocket before they go shopping, it is a good thing.

Julia Pearson, environmental programmes manager for BEES (Bradford Environmental Education Service) which focuses on conservation management, working with young people to improve green spaces, says everyone needs to think about how they can use things more wisely and thoughtfully.

“If we don’t think about the value of things, we are more wasteful,” says Julia.

Proving she practices what she preaches, a few years ago Julia set herself a challenge to allow herself 12 plastic bags in the year if she was caught short without a bag.

“I managed to change my behaviour to take bags with me and plan, so hopefully the proposed introduction of the 5p charge will be a trigger to help people change their behaviour.”

But the Environmental Audit Committee says plans to exclude biodegradable bags, paper bags and small retailers from the scheme risk confusing consumers and undermining the effectiveness and benefits of the levy.

The Parliamentary committee urges the 5p charge should be applied to all types of bags and retailers.

Joan Walley, Environmental Audit Committee chairman, says the Government is right to want to reduce the use of plastic bags. “But Defra seems to have made decisions about the design of this scheme that were based more on wishful thinking than hard evidence.

“Before the Government reaches the check-out with this policy, it needs to drop the exemptions and keep it simple to help shoppers do the right thing.”

A Defra spokesman says: “We want to reduce plastic bag usage – but it shouldn’t come at the cost of burdening small businesses who can choose whether or not to charge their customers.”