​Tesco to give an estimated £1m from bag tax to green charity

Environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) is set to receive a £1 million windfall raised from carrier bag charges.

Thousands of Tesco customers nominated the charity as part of an online vote to choose the beneficiaries of cash raised from carrier bag charges in Scotland and Wales.

The Scottish levy is expected to be worth around £1 million and the Welsh levy around £800,000 which will go to KSB’s counterpart, Keep Wales Tidy.

In June, Tesco gave the green light for charities and environmental organisations to submit proposals on how they would use the funds to help make a real difference for the environment and local communities.

Every corner of Scotland can see the benefit of this partnership

Some 120 organisations applied for the Scottish and Welsh partnerships, before being whittled down to the five-strong shortlist.

Keep Scotland Beautiful has pledged to use the financial support to improve local environments all across Scotland.

The charity is already leading mass public involvement through its Clean Up Scotland campaign which is bringing together volunteers from across the country to take action to fight litter and improve their local environment.

Derek Robertson, chief executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “We will use the levy proceeds to support activities like Clean Up Scotland, and It’s Your Neighbourhood which enables local action to improve the environment.

“Every corner of Scotland can see the benefit of this partnership, and we look forward to working with many new groups and new communities to make their corner of Scotland cleaner, greener and more sustainable.”