The Queen will announce her Government's plans to charge shoppers 5p for plastic bags in her annual speech at Westminster today.
The move follows an EU decision to reduce plastic bag use by 80 per cent before 2019.
The five pence charge for disposable plastic bags will apply to all supermarkets and larger stores according to reports.
The average Englishman or woman uses 130 of the carroers each year.
Environmental campaigners say the bags take up to 1,000 years to degrade and cause serious harm to marine animals and birds.
The move has already been introduced by the Welsh government and will now be brought in England from the autumn of 2015.
In other parts of the world the bags have already been binned with countries issuing outright bans of the environmental hazards.
Germany, South Africa, Italy, Somalia, Botswana, Uganda, Kenya, Japan, Papa New Guinea, Eritrea, China, Sweden, Bhutan, Malta and Turkey are among those to have banished the bags.
Some other countries have issued partial bans which is why you will never spot the bags in Australian supermarkets or in Mumbai.
