Anya Hindmarch to launch the Universal Bag in collaboration with Morrisons

Marking a huge milestone in the global rollout of the Universal Bag project, Tesco and Morrisons are being announced as the next two UK partners.

Designed by Anya Hindmarch and manufactured by the Solent Group, The Universal Bag is the next generation of reusable bag; a desirable, durable, reusable, 100% recycled and recyclable shopping bag that is designed for everyone, to take everywhere, for everything.Working collaboratively with major global food retailers, the Universal Bag aims to drive meaningful change across the industry. While use of single use plastic has reduced dramatically, with sales falling in the main supermarkets by 95% between 2021 – 2022, according to recent Government data*, the problem is far from solved. Nearly half a billion single use plastic bags were still sold between 2021 – 2022 and the ‘bag for life’ is not theenvironmental solution we had all hoped.Since launching The Universal Bag project collaboratively over 150 tonnes of virgin plastic has been saved from landfill, the equivalent of over 12 London double decker buses.The Tesco version, available from the end of July in 250 stores nationwide, will be available in their core brand colours of blue with red handles, while the Morrisons version, available from mid-September in 400 stores nationwide, will be in their core brand colours of yellow with green handles.These versions of the Universal Bag are the seventh and eighth editions respectively and add to the growing global line up, following Asda, Co-op, Sainsburys, Selfridges Food Hall and Waitrose in the UK, City’SUPER in Hong Kong and National Azabu in Japan. More global partners will be announced later this year.Morrisons was the first British supermarket to introduce paper ‘bags for life’ instead of plastic and has also committed to using 50% less plastic packaging in its own-brand products by 2025.Working together with retailers with such impact, scale and ambition gives the opportunity to make meaningful changes and inspire long lasting shifts in consumer habits.

THE UNIVERSAL BAG

Anya Hindmarch, Founder and Creative Director, comments:“The Universal Bag project has saved over 150 tonnes of virgin plastic from landfill to date, the equivalent weight of over 12 London double decker buses. Plastic pollution remains apressing environmental issue but working together with major global food retailers shows how the solution needs to collaborative.”

Rachel Eyre, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer, Morrisons, comments:“We’re thrilled to partner with Anya Hindmarch on the Universal Bag project and support such an important issue. We are committed to reducing our plastic use and were the first supermarket to introduce paper ‘bags for life’. It’s an issue our customers and colleagues are extremely passionate about so we are excited to see the Morrisons x Anya Hindmarch tote land in our stores and we will be proud to spot it out and about too!”

Ashley Simons, CEO, Solent, comments:“Both Anya and Solent have a shared heritage in creating and producing market disrupting initiatives that help customers to lead healthier and more sustainable lives. We are delighted to have partnered with Anya and her team on the Universal Bag which further supports the reduction and need for single use plastics. The Universal Bag is a beautiful and high performing product that encourages customers to buy into reusability and sustainability;it’s not a bag you’d ever feel comfortable throwing in the bin. Given the durability of the bag, ideally, it will never need to be recycled but, if it does, we have made it easy for the customer to get it back into the recycling stream – a process that has never been done before. The Universal Bag is a true market first and another step change in our mission to end single use plastic bag usage for one and for all.”