Britain’s biggest supermarket group Tesco will encourage shoppers to re-use bags by offering one point for the Clubcard loyalty scheme (worth 1p) for every carrier bag they do not use.

It is the latest in a series of recent moves by the big grocery chains as each tries to show it is greener than the other.

The number of carrier bags handed out to British shoppers is fast becoming an emotive issue. Only one in every 200 bags is recycled and an estimated 100,000 tonnes of plastic bags, which is the same weight as 70,000 cars, are thrown away in Britain each year.

Tesco’s initiative comes two months after Ikea began charging 5p a bag. The Swedish furniture group says plastic bag usage at British stores has since dropped by 95 per cent — far more than it had expected. In September the charge will rise to 10p when Ikea introduces a biodegradable bag.

Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy said: “Our research tells us customers feel a bit guilty about the number of bags they use.”

A recent Mori poll showed that 63 per cent of the British public would support a 10p bag tax.

And at a recent meeting of Bolton Council, Lib Dem councillor Richard Silvester put forward a motion urging the Government to follow Ireland’s lead by putting the tax on carrier bags.

He said: “The Irish Government put a tax on carrier bags in 2002 which has reduced the issuing of carrier bags by over 90 per cent.”

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