We’ve got an idea how to save the UK £380 million a year. Give everyone a new shopping bag with your company’s name on it.

Hear us out – this is sound economics.

Everyone in the UK now has to spend five pence for the privilege of having their over-priced shopping falling out the bottom of a gossamer-thin placcy bag proclaiming useless mottoes like ‘live well for less’ and ‘Like brands. Only cheaper’.

So the future is clearly a lovely, strong, ethically sourced and made, old school shopping bag. Like Grandma used to favour. Except much more right on.

Trouble is they look a bit dear at the checkout compared to the virtually free plastic versions and we’re all too rich to care and too tight to spend a pound on a re-usable shopping bag. So we’ll end up blowing millions on bagging the old way, but it’s a fool’s game and the planet can’t take it any more.

Let’s crunch the numbers.

The Beeb says that number of plastic bags given out by the seven major supermarkets in England exceeded 7.6 billion in 2014 - the equivalent of 140 bags per person.

At 5p a pop that’s £380 million quid that the nation will be free to spend on Rolexes and Jags and Louboutins and yachts - or perhaps your products - to give the economy a proper boost.

Or a slightly less impressive £7 quid per person. But still, that’s one free bottle of half-decent Sancerre (or a couple of pints at Wetherspoons if that’s more your style) for every man, woman and child bleakly shuffling through Tesco’s mighty caverns of consumption every year.

Giving your customers a robust and sustainable shopping bag, emblazoned with your proud logo and messaging, is like buying them a couple of drinks. And everyone loves someone who always gets their round in.

Every time they shop they’ll thank you. Not only for saving them a few pence, but for kick-starting the nation’s economy too.

Talk about every little helps.

It’s definitely time to give Georgie a call to discuss your company’s new bags.