CO-OP is launching compostable carrier bags.

Stores in Bromley Cross, Farnworth, Horwich and Westhoughton are among the first to offer compostable bags aiming to remove 60 million single-use bags UK-wide.

The bags can be turned into peat-free compost along with the household food waste, and are approved for home composting. They are priced at the same price as the conventional single-use plastic bag being replaced.

Shoppers - who forget their bag-for-life - can use the compostable bags to carry shopping home. The carriers then have a secondary use as food waste caddy liners and are initially available in communities where the local authority accepts them as part of household food waste collections.

Iain Ferguson, environment manager, Co-op, said: "The bags are carefully designed to help local authorities with food waste recycling and, reduce plastic contamination in a targeted way. Reducing the environmental impact of our products and eliminating single-use plastic is a priority, we welcome measures designed to make recycling simpler."