Final report
SME plastic carrier bag pilot
survey
Technical note on a Pilot to identify an approach to obtain data on
carrier bag usage by SMEs
Project code: CBG001-003
Research date: February 2015 Date: November 2015
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Document reference:
WRAP, 2015, Banbury, SME Plastic Carrier Bag Pilot Survey, Prepared by Claire Fairclough, Databuild.
Document reference (please use this reference when citing WRAP’s work):
[WRAP, Year, Town, Title of Report, Prepared by xx]
Document reference: [e.g. WRAP, 2006, Report Name (WRAP Project TYR009-19. Report prepared by…..Banbury, WRAP]
Written by: Claire Fairclough
Front cover photography: Carrier Bags.
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WRAP – SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 3
Contents
1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 4
1.1 Background ............................................................................................................. 4
2.0 Research objectives ................................................................................................ 4
3.0 Methodology ............................................................................................................ 4
3.1 Overall approach .................................................................................................... 4
3.1.1 Telephone interviews ................................................................................ 4
3.1.2 Face-to-face interviews .............................................................................. 5
4.0 Findings .................................................................................................................... 5
4.1 Willingness to participate ...................................................................................... 5
4.1.1 Telephone interview participation ........................................................... 5
4.1.2 Face-to-face interview participation ........................................................ 5
4.2 Ability of SMEs to respond .................................................................................... 6
4.2.1 Telephone interviews ................................................................................ 6
4.2.2 Face-to-face interviews .............................................................................. 6
4.3 Understanding best terminology for further surveys ...................................... 6
4.3.1 How SME retailers estimate ...................................................................... 6
4.3.2 SME retailer understanding of carrier bag thickness ........................... 7
5.0 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 7
5.1 Willingness to participate ...................................................................................... 7
5.2 Ability to participate ............................................................................................... 7
5.3 Terminology for future research ......................................................................... 8
Appendix 1 .......................................................................................................................... 9
Telephone and face-to-face interview questionnaire ................................................... 9
Appendix 2 ........................................................................................................................ 12
Telephone interview responses: Carrier bag usage estimates .................................. 12
Appendix 3 ........................................................................................................................ 14
Face-to-face interview responses: Carrier bag usage estimates ............................... 14
Tables
Table 1 Participation by sector- telephone survey ................................................................... 5
Table 2 Willingness to participate by sector – number of face-to-face surveys .................. 6
WRAP – SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 4
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background
A charge for plastic carrier bags in England was announced by the Deputy Prime
Minister in September 2013 and came into effect in October 2015. Although SMEs are
exempt from the charge, the introduction of the charge may have some effect on their
behaviour.
To provide a good overall picture of carrier bag usage in England the estimates for the
numbers of carrier bags larger retailers (grocery and non-grocery) need to be combined
with the estimated being issued by SME retailers.
Including SME retailers in the research creates a significant number of challenges to
such as the SME retailers’ willingness to participate and their ability to be able to
respond accurately.
As a result of these challenges, WRAP commissioned a small scale pilot to understand
the potential to collect data on plastic carrier bag issuing behaviour from SMEs by asking
a random sample of SME retailers (both over the telephone and face-to-face) about their
willingness and ability to provide the information required.
2.0 Research objectives
The objectives of this pilot were to assess the potential to collect data on plastic carrier
bags from SMEs and specifically to:
a) Understand their willingness to participate.
b) Assess the ability of SMEs to respond to questions.
c) Understand the best terminology for any potential future survey.
3.0 Methodology
3.1 Overall approach
Research for this pilot survey was undertaken through a mixture of telephone and face-
to-face interviews. Please see Appendix 1 for a full copy of the questionnaire.
3.1.1 Telephone interviews
206 retailers were approached by telephone to participate. The sample represented
seven different sectors and five locations to ensure a broad coverage of the SME
population in both urban and semi urban locations. Yell.com was used to obtain
telephone numbers. Telephone interviews ranged from between one and four minutes
in length but on average the call lasted just under two minutes.
The sectors included grocers, green grocers, newsagents, hardware stores, clothes
boutiques, gift shops and pet shops.
Locations included Birmingham, Harrogate, Exeter, Orpington and Bromsgrove.
SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 5
3.1.2 Face-to-face interviews
20 face-to-face Interviews were carried out in Sutton Coldfield, Cotteridge and
Northfield, all high streets in Birmingham where there are a variety of SME retailers. The
face-to-face interviews took on average seven to eight minutes to complete; 15 minutes
being the longest.
4.0 Findings
4.1 Willingness to participate
4.1.1 Telephone interview participation
206 retailers were telephoned of which 61 were willing to participate, 24 declined and
121 did not respond for a variety of reasons including the telephone number not
connecting, a language barrier, the shop owner not available or simply hanging up the
phone.
Table 1 Participation by sector- telephone survey
TOTAL Newsagents Green
Grocer
Clothes
Shop
Hardware
Store
Grocer Pet
Shop
Gift
Shop
Yes 61 10 7 7 10 11 8 8
No 24 10 4 0 0 8 1 1
No
response
121 17 10 11 22 43 4 14
TOTAL 206 37 21 18 32 62 13 23
Amongst the retailers that were contacted and spoken to, clothes shops and hardware
shops were more willing to participate. This might be because they generally have lower
footfall and more time to respond to a survey.
Amongst those interviewed, there was no unprompted mention of a carrier bag charge.
Some respondents gave their view on this when they asked what the survey was about
and an explanation further than outlined in the introductory script was required.
Three respondents were removed from the dataset for analysis as they realised they
were unable to answer the questions once they had agreed to participate.
4.1.2 Face-to-face interview participation
20 retailers were visited in three West Midland high streets (Cotteridge, Boldmere in
Sutton Coldfield and Northfield). 100% of those asked were happy to respond to the
survey; one retailer providing information about three of their greengroceries and
another spoke about their two clothes stores. They were all very keen to take part and
talk about their businesses. Two respondents were then removed from the dataset as
they realised they were unable to answer the questions once they had agreed to
participate.
SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 6
Table 2 Willingness to participate by sector – number of face-to-face surveys
Number willing to
participate
Newsagents 4
Green Grocer 4
Clothes Shop 4
Hardware Store 2
Grocer 1
Pet Shop 1
Gift Shop 3
Charity Shop 1
Total 20
4.2 Ability of SMEs to respond
The overall finding from both the telephone and face-to-face interviews is that although
willing to estimate a figure, very few SME retailers actually know how many plastic
carrier bags they use with any degree of accuracy. Most estimates provided were
acknowledged as such. Whilst a few retailers stated that they did know, they were still
only able to give a very rough estimate.
4.2.1 Telephone interviews
When questioned about their plastic carrier bag usage, only four respondents (three
hardware and one grocery store) responded that they could provide an annual number
of carrier bags used. Their response however was only an estimate and they had no
exact way of knowing their usage. The remaining 54 respondents stated they did not
know the exact number on an annual basis, but were willing to estimate across a shorter
time period e.g. a week. Two respondents provided an estimate of their use of paper
bags.
4.2.2 Face-to-face interviews
During the face-to-face interviews two of the twenty respondents stated that they knew
how many carrier bags were used on an annual basis, but as with the telephone
interviews their responses were an estimate. 16 respondents provided an estimate
across a shorter time period (including one of paper bag use) and two declined to
estimate.
4.3 Understanding best terminology for further surveys
4.3.1 How SME retailers estimate
The vast majority of retailers provided their response by thinking in terms of the
number of plastic carrier bags they issue per day or per week. Appendix 2 and 3 show
the responses and the language used when making the estimates. Responses were
expressed in rounded numbers and vary significantly in terms of volumes. The two
respondents interviewed with more than one shop provided the same estimate for each
shop. Some retailers mentioned additional challenges in estimation around seasonality.
A few retailers used their purchasing behaviour to provide an estimate (e.g. based on
number of boxes of bags purchased over a specific timescale).
SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 7
When estimating, two respondents (one interviewed by telephone and one interviewed
face-to-face) provided information about their use of paper bags. Despite the
discussion being introduced as one about plastic carrier bags, there was a need to
reinforce this throughout.
All retailers were referring to their use of plastic carrier bags (e.g. rather than plastic
bags provided ‘on the roll’, used for handling fruit or vegetables). In a few cases
retailers, particularly greengrocers, referred to different size carrier bags but they were
all confirmed as plastic carrier bags for the purpose of the survey rather than the
smaller plastic bags. There were two issues to be alert to here:
1. The need to distinguish between small plastic bags and plastic carrier bags
2. The potential that retailers could issue plastic carrier bags of varying sizes to
customers.
4.3.2 SME retailer understanding of carrier bag thickness
No respondents knew the thickness of their carrier bags and all were only able to give
general responses such as, “Very thin” and “Standard, normal ones.”
During the face-to-face interviews carrier bag samples were collected and comparisons
could be made between responses and carrier bag samples to understand perceptions
of thickness. In a third of cases the interviewer was able to see the packaging containing
the bags and in 40% of these the packaging showed the thickness of bags. In most cases
plastic carrier bags were no longer in their original packaging.
5.0 Conclusions
5.1 Resultant outputs
It should be noted that this pilot study was undertaken to assess the willingness and
ability of retailers to contribute to a survey. Whilst the pilot demonstrated that this
methodology can capture data from SMEs, the outputs collated during the pilot are
neither accurate nor generalizable. Samples are not representative of UK retailers at a
national or sector level and the majority of responses are rough estimates. The data
presented in this report should not be taken as an indication of the performance of UK
SMEs.
5.2 Willingness to participate
Willingness to participate in the pilot survey was positive, with 30% of those contacted
by telephone and 100% of those approached in the face-to-face surveys being willing to
participate. Whilst 30% might appear low, given these are small retailers who were
contacted using yell.com this is a good result. With further attempts to re-contact those
unavailable at the time of initial and subsequent calls, it is likely the response rate would
have improved further.
5.3 Ability to participate
Of those who agreed to participate, both the telephone and face-to-face surveys have
demonstrated that small retailers are unaware of their plastic carrier bag usage and are
only able to inform a very rough estimate of what their annual usage may be by
SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 8
providing estimates of daily, weekly or monthly usage. Although it is therefore possible
to determine a ‘number’ of plastic carrier bags that SME retailers use, this number would
need to be treated with caution and using this methodology, could be considered a
‘guestimate’.
5.4 Terminology for future research
For any future projects on this topic, it can be concluded that small retailers think about
and estimate their carrier bag usage in terms of how many they use per day or per week
(and use this to calculate their annual usage). In terms of carrier bag thickness, they are
also only able to give generic responses such as “very thin” or “standard” rather than
technical specifications of carrier bag type. There is also a need to distinguish plastic
carrier bags as distinct from paper bags or smaller plastic bags.
SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 9
Appendix 1
Telephone and face-to-face interview questionnaire
Questionnaire – Guidance for reader
● Square brackets and italics e.g. [Ask if Q1=1 or Q2=1] denote routing instructions or
instructions to researchers and will not be read out to the respondent.
● [OE] – denotes that a free-form text, open ended response should be captured.
Introduction
● Good morning / afternoon, my name is x from Databuild Research and Solutions, an
independent research company. We are currently doing some exploratory research
about understanding carrier bag use amongst small and medium sized retailers?
Do you have a few minutes for me to ask you five or six questions about this?
[If asked]:
● [Telephone survey] Organisation name was identified from a commercial
database
● The work is on behalf of the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP)
● WRAP are interested in understanding how many plastic carrier bags are issued
by small and medium sized retailers
● This is part of understanding the potential effect of a charge for plastic carrier
bags (although small retailers will be exempt from this)
[Willingness to participate - categorise response]:
● [If yes] Continue
● [if no] Record, with a reason, if provided
[If the respondent cannot participate in the research straight away, make an appointment to
call the respondent back]
[Telephone survey: In order to comply with the MRS code of conduct]: Before I
ask my questions, I need to let you know that all responses will be treated in
confidence and will only be used for research purposes by the team undertaking
this research. Calls may be monitored for training purposes.
[Face-to-face survey: In order to comply with the MRS code of conduct]: Before I
ask my questions, I need to let you know that all responses will be treated in
confidence and will only be used for research purposes by the team undertaking
this research.
SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 10
Telephone survey and face-to-face survey: Questions
1. [Capture type of retailer – no need to ask if interview is being conducted face-to-
face] Can I just check, your business is a:
● Newsagent
● Greengrocer
● Grocer
● Hardware shop
● Clothes shop
● Pet shop
● Gift shop
● Other, please specify
2. [How many people are employed in your business? [FTE Capture number]:
● < 250, an SME - continue
● Over 250, a large firm – close
3. Is your shop a franchise or part of a larger chain?
Franchise
Larger chain – [capture number of employees. If over 250, a large firm – close]
Neither
4. Do you know how many plastic carrier bags you use in a year? [capture OE]
● [If yes] How many?
● [If no - see how respondents spontaneously considers the question – rather than
probing with a range for example] Are you able to estimate the number of carrier
bags you use in some other way?
5. Do you know the thickness of the plastic carrier bags you use?
● Yes [capture OE]
● No
Face-to-face survey only: Questions
6. Is the thickness of the plastic carrier bags that you use indicated on the box that you
purchase them in?
● Yes
● No
[Either way – capture any information about the box, especially if you are able to
look at it]
7. [To enable comparison to respondent answer on carrier bag thickness] Would you
mind if I took a carrier bag as a sample?
Yes
No
SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 11
Closing questions
8. That covers all the questions I had today; many thanks for your time and help.
Would you like to take our number or the Market Research Society Free-phone
number in order to confirm who we are?
Asked for Databuild number – 0121 687 1144
Asked for MRS Freephone number - 0500 39 69 99
No
Capture anecdotal information
9. [Do not ask question] Record anything the responses mentions about carrier bag
use during the conversation
10. [Do not ask question] Record your own thoughts on the responses provided e.g. the
quality of responses provided
SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 12
Appendix 2
Telephone interview responses: Carrier bag usage estimates
(Greyed out respondents offered carrier bag usage on an annual basis although it is actually an estimate)
Per Day Per Week Per Month Per
Quarter Annual
Annual Implied
Estimate
Hardware
Less than 1000
Less than 100
Hardware 24,000 24,000
Hardware 1000 1000
Grocer 1000 1000
Greengrocer About 200 a week 10400
Greengrocer Maybe about 200 a week 10400
Greengrocer 20 a day 7280
Greengrocer A 2000 box of carrier bags of a week
1 104000
Greengrocer 100 a week 5200
Greengrocer 20 a day 7280
Clothes Not many, won't be more than 100 5200
Clothes Probably 100 a week 5200
Clothes Less than 100 a week 5200
Clothes About 10 a day 3640
Clothes
Probably about 10 a day but more on the weekend 4160
Clothes
10-20 per day, about 40 on a Saturday. (paper) 0
Clothes 220 per week rough estimate (paper) 0
Gift Shops Maybe around 200 a week 10400
Gift Shops About 300 a week 15600
Gift Shops 2000 a quarter 8000
Gift Shops 4-10 a day 2184
Gift Shops Probably under 200 a week 10400
Gift Shops Not many, about 100 a week 5200
Gift Shops
Not a clue, very roughly about 600 a month maybe more 7200
Gift Shops About 200 a week 10400
Grocers Maybe 50 a day 18200
Grocers Maybe 200 a week 10400
1 Also estimated using two boxes of 1000 small plastic bags per week
SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 13
Per Day Per Week Per Month Per
Quarter Annual
Annual Implied
Estimate
Grocers 3000-4000 a month 48000
Grocers 30 a day 10920
Grocers 1000 bags every 2-3 weeks 20000
Grocers 100 a week 5200
Grocers 200 a week 10400
Grocers 30 a day 10920
Grocers 10 to 12 a day 3640
Grocers 50 a day 18200
Hardware 1000 a week 52000
Hardware
Think we use 50-60 per week but this may increase during summer 2600
Hardware Less than a 1000 a month 12000
Hardware 200 a week 10400
Hardware At least 500 a month 6000
Hardware 1 a week 52
Newsagents box of 1000 every 8 weeks 6500
Newsagents About a 1000 a week 5200
Newsagents 200 a week 10400
Newsagents Maybe about 30 a day 10920
Newsagents 20 a day roughly 7280
Newsagents Maybe about 30 a day 10920
Newsagents 200 a week, rough estimate 10400
Newsagents 50 a day 18200
Newsagents 30-50 a day 10920
Newsagents 200 a week 10400
Pet Shop Less than 100 a week 5200
Pet Shop
Really rough estimate 10-15 a day but varies 3640
Pet Shop 30 a week 1560
Pet Shop 1 a week 52
Pet Shop 6 a week 312
Pet Shop
1000 every couple of months, about 500 a month 6000
Pet Shop Maybe 10 a week 520
SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 14
Appendix 3
Face-to-face interview responses: Carrier bag usage estimates
(Greyed out respondents stated they knew their carrier bag usage on an annual basis although it is actually an estimate)
Per Day Per Week Per Month Per
Quarter Annual
Annual
Implied
Estimate
Pet Shop
25,000 25,000
Clothes
400-500 400-500
Gift Shops
About 8
packets
with 100 a
week
41,600
Gift Shops 20 per day 6,240
Gift Shops
60 customers per day
(PAPER BAGS)
0
Charity Shops 5 per day 1,500
Clothes 10 a day 3,640
Clothes
200 a
week*
10,400
Clothes
200 a
week*
10,400
Clothes
50 per week 2,500
Greengrocer
Have two different types of
bags: 1000 a day of the
smaller bags and 250 a
day of the bigger ones*2
455,000
Greengrocer
Have two different types of
bags: 1000 a day of the
smaller bags and 250 a
day of the bigger ones*
455,000
Greengrocer
Have two different types of
bags: 1000 a day of the
smaller bags and 250 a
day of the bigger ones*
455,000
Greengrocer
200 a week 10,400
Greengrocer
4 boxes
ordered per
month with
100 in
4,800
Grocer
100 in box -
box per
month
1,200
Hardware
A few a
week
104
Hardware 100 a day
5,200
Newsagent
200 a week 10,400
Newsagent 50 a day
18,200
Newsagent
100 per
week
5,200
*duplication due to owner having multiple shops within the area
2 Retailer issues two sizes of plastic carrier bags to customer, choice dependent on size of purchase