Doubling the levy on plastic bags to 10p and applying it to all businesses could prevent small shops handing out more than two million of them every day, according to government figures.

The impact of the planned increase in January was revealed by environment minister Lord Gardiner.

He said: “We estimate that the policy to increase the charge to 10p would cause a decline in consumption of SUCBs (single-use carrier bags) in MSMEs (micro and small-to-medium enterprises).”

This decline was “assumed to be 23% in the first year of change and 80% within three years” between 2020 and 2022 according to Lord Gardiner, who was responding to a written question from Lord Hayward.

According to the most recent figures, large retailers sold roughly 1.7 billion plastic bags in 2017-18.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has claimed that the 5p levy removed more than 15 billion plastic bags out of circulation.

It plans to increase the tax to 10p from January, and apply it to all retailers – not just large businesses.

But Lord Hayward says the department’s estimates are too conservative and called for the increased levy to be brought forward sooner.

Speaking to The Times, he said: “We have now been waiting for over a year and a half.

“These figures confirm that for each day the policy is delayed some 2,250,000 bags are used which would not be used if there were a charge.

“If the impact was to reduce usage by 50%, which I believe is more likely, 4,500,000 bags a day would be taken out of waste streams.”

The charges were introduced in England on 5 October 2015, following Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland bringing in the levy in 2011, 2013, and 2014 respectively.

Currently, retailers in England who employ fewer than 250 full-time staff are exempt from applying the charge.

The money itself is not collected by the government, except in Northern Ireland, but the large retailers who are required to apply it are simply “strongly encouraged” to donate the proceeds to good causes.

According to the Press Association, 153 companies reported making donations of £51.6m in 2017/18.

The bulk of these donations were evenly spent between local causes near the businesses (£20.5m) and charities and voluntary organisations (£20.4m), with £2.9m to environmental causes.

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