Anya Hindmarch circular Universal Bag continues rollout

The Universal Bag project from luxury accessories designer Anya Hindmarch, manufactured by the Solent Group, is continuing its global rollout with new UK partnerships with supermarkets Tesco and Morrisons.

The affordable reusable tote bags, designed by Hindmarch, are durable, 100 percent recycled and recyclable, and since the launch of The Universal Bag project, it has diverted more than 150 tonnes of virgin plastic from landfill, the equivalent of over 12 London double-decker buses.

The Tesco version will be available from the end of July in 250 stores nationwide, in the supermarket’s core brand colours of blue with red handles, while the Morrisons version will drop in mid-September in 400 stores nationwide in yellow with green handles. Both versions will retail for 10 pounds each.

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, Sainsbury's, 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.

Anya Hindmarch, founder and creative director, said in a statement: “Plastic pollution remains a pressing environmental issue but working together with major global food retailers shows how the solution needs to collaborative.”

Ashley Simons, chief executive at Solent, added: “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.”