Many consumers can’t have failed to notice the large and seemingly unnecessary amount of packaging that comes with online orders. So it’s no wonder that in the 10 years since the plastic bag levy was introduced in the UK, e-commerce waste is still driving billions of plastic bags to landfill, with Britain the worst contributor in Europe.

To avoid undoing the progress of the levy, sustainable packaging company DS Smith is calling for legislation to evolve in line with e-commerce growth and for retailers “to speed up efforts to replace plastic bags". It’s calling for urgent action from both retailers and government.

And now for some embarrassing numbers. Online fashion retailers delivered 941 million plastic bags to UK shoppers last year alone, equating to 2.6 million bags every day, widening the gap between high street and online retail in efforts to move away from plastic bags.

Online fashion retailers are also set to deliver seven billion plastic bags by 2030 to UK shoppers (130,000 an hour), with nearly one billion sent out last year alone just in the UK.

Only 9% of the fashion e-commerce bags delivered across the UK are currently being reused or recycled.

So 10 years on from the introduction of the levy (which has cut high street usage by 98% since 2015), e-commerce plastic bag use has rapidly increased and 91% of the billions of bags end up in landfill or incineration, equating to 857 million bags just last year.

The growth in e-commerce and slow progress on increasing recycling rates mean by 2030, over 1 billion plastic bags will end up in landfill or burned annually.

The UK is also revealed as the largest individual market for e-commerce plastic delivery bags among large European economies, according to analysis by Development Economics, and commissioned by DS Smith. Germany comes second.

Meanwhile, consumer polling shows that 67% of Britons want plastic bags phased out where replacements are available and 60% of shoppers say they prefer to receive their shopping wrapped in cardboard or paper.

Half of UK shoppers say they feel guilty about the amount of plastic their orders come in and think the responsibility to reduce the use of plastic sits with retailers (51%), packaging companies (44%) and government (24%). Almost half of shoppers (46%) say they’d be more likely to order from a fashion retailer that uses easily recyclable packaging.

Stefano Rossi, Divisional CEO Packaging at DS Smith, said: “With some of the biggest brands in the world, we estimate that we’ve already replaced more than one billion pieces of plastic over the last four years – but we must do more. While online shopping has grown, e-commerce retailers lag high-street stores when it comes to replacing plastic bags. Brands like Zalando have proved change is possible, but there is a blocker; there simply aren’t enough paper alternatives available and our industry needs to step up to provide them.

Rossi added: “It will be tempting for businesses to fixate on price, but sticking with plastic comes at a cost – consumers don’t want it, and brands risk their reputation by ignoring that. We think legislation can and should be more demanding of us all — phasing out certain plastics to help create a level playing field that encourages innovation, investment, and generates healthy competition to replace plastic.”