Waitrose narrowly beat its sister company John Lewis

Customers at the Waitrose outlet in Saffron Walden, Essex, will instead be asked to re-use old carriers.

The chain will introduce one plastic bag-free "green till" at another 14 of its 183 branches for the same period.

It is the latest move by a food chain store to reduce the number of carriers handed out to shoppers.

Waitrose head of social responsibility Nick Monger Godfrey said: "How customers react will help us determine pragmatic and realistic ways of making our business even greener."

It follows moves by Sainsbury's to make plastic bags more eco-friendly and to introduce "bag-free" days when no disposable bags are handed out.