Ten years after the introduction of the UK’s plastic bag levy, online fashion is failing to keep pace with progress made on the high street, with the majority of UK consumers still receiving plastic with every order, according to new analysis.
Polling commissioned by sustainable packaging business DS Smith, an International Paper company, shows that over three quarters (76%) of shoppers receive their fashion orders wrapped in plastic.
There is clear appetite for change: 38% consider the packaging unnecessary, while only 4% believe plastic is always essential.
This comes ten years after the introduction of the UK’s plastic bag levy, which has helped to slash plastic bag use on the UK’s high streets by 98% since 2015.
But this levy does not extend to online deliveries and recent research from DEFRA has found that plastic bag sales have risen for the first time in a decade due to online deliveries.
UK’s online plastic problem
These findings build on prior research from DS Smith and Development Economics, which showed nearly 7 billion plastic bags will be used for UK deliveries by 2030 – the equivalent of over 130,000 plastic bags delivered every hour.
Research also showed that less than one in 10 e-commerce bags delivered across the UK are reused or recycled, whilst more than 9 in 10 end up in landfill or incineration.
The growth in e-commerce and slow progress on increasing recycling rates mean that by 2030, over 1 billion plastic bags will end up in landfill or burned annually.
The UK is now the largest individual market for e-commerce plastic delivery bags amongst large European economies, with 941 million delivered to UK shoppers last year alone. This delivery loophole threatens to undo much of the environmental progress achieved by the levy.
Samantha Upham, senior sustainability manager at DS Smith, said: “There’s no doubt that the plastic bag levy has been instrumental in driving progress on the high street. But our research shows that e-commerce continues to be left behind and billions of plastic bags are ending up in our household bins.
“Shoppers are clear that they don’t want unnecessary plastic in their fashion orders, and many would support stronger action, including legislative change.
“Since 2020, we have worked with some of the biggest brands in the world to replace 1.7 billion pieces of plastic with recyclable alternatives, but this is only the beginning. Innovation sits at the heart of our business; our dedicated R&D team is constantly exploring and trialling alternative materials – from daisies and hemp to cocoa shells and seaweed – each bringing unique properties to the solutions we create.
Legislation should evolve with consumption patterns to recognise the rapid growth of e-commerce and help create a level playing field that encourages innovation, investment to replace plastic.”
Commenting on the findings, Dr Regina Frei, Professor of Sustainable and Circular Systems at the Fashion, Textiles and Technology Institute, University of the Arts London, said: “Plastic serves many functions, it’s lightweight, durable, waterproof, cheap, and available in abundance, but it can carry a heavy cost. Whilst most plastics are technically recyclable, many, especially soft plastics, are often not recycled in reality. Instead, they are burnt, landfilled, or simply dumped in staggering volumes.
This plastic waste takes hundreds of years to decompose, and we don’t yet understand the extent of the damage it is truly causing to our environment and our own bodies. We urgently need to replace plastics with more sustainable and less harmful materials, and we must manage the plastics we do currently use in responsible ways.
Let’s have the courage to imagine a world without plastic bags, wrappers and films. We all have something to contribute: researchers, manufacturers, retailers, policymakers and consumers.
As consumers, we can demand that retailers stop wrapping everything in plastic. As companies, we should change our business practices. As researchers, we need to develop a more diverse range of alternative materials with the right characteristics. As investors, we need to support such work. As policymakers, we need to change the rules under which companies operate.”
Plastic pathways to progress
When asked how to reduce plastic bags in online fashion deliveries, 69% support replacing plastic with paper packaging, whilst over half (52%) favour legislative interventions, such as introducing a plastic bag levy for online fashion retailers.
Fewer consumers think that they should pay a plastic packaging tax than not: 30% are in favour, while 44% are opposed.
Beyond fashion, 64% of shoppers are concerned about the rise in plastic bag usage more broadly, highlighting a growing mismatch between consumer shopping habits and legislation.
DS Smith is working with major retailers to help close this gap and some fashion brands have already made the switch from plastic to paper.
