TESCO customers are being invited to help community groups and good causes in Stirling bag a share of a £12.5million carrier bag charge fund.

The supermarket has teamed up with Groundwork on its Bags of Help initiative, which sees grants of £12,000, £10,000 and £8,000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to environmental and greenspace projects.  Greenspace Scotland is working with Groundwork to provide support to communities in Scotland. 

This month shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they believe should take away each amount. 

The groups to benefit from the Tesco grant in Stirling are: Doune Primary School, the Dunblane Preschool Play Association and St Modan’s High School.

Balfron High School is also one of the recipients of the grant in the Glasgow / East Dunbartonshire / Renfrewshire region.

Voting is open in store from September 26 to October 9. Customers will be able to cast their vote using a token given to them at the checkout in store.

Tony McElroy, Tesco’s Head of Communications in Scotland, said: “The first round of the Bags of Help initiative was a fantastic success.

“In total 1,170 community groups were awarded £8,000, £10,000 or £12,000 - that’s a massive £11.7 million being invested into local projects.

“We are already seeing results with some groups transforming their own environmental and greenspace areas.

“We are absolutely delighted to be opening voting for round two. We hope that even more customers will choose to support groups that mean a lot to them and to their communities.

“There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see them come to life with Bags of Help grants.”

The bag charge has already raised millions for good causes in Scotland.

Emma Halliday, community enabler coordinator at Greenspace Scotland, said: “Bags of Help is giving our communities both the funding and the support to create better, healthier and greener places for everyone to enjoy.

“We’ve been thrilled to see the diversity of projects that have applied for funding, ranging from outdoor classrooms, sports facilities, community gardens, play areas and everything in between.

“They’re all fantastic projects that make a real different in our neighbourhoods.

“We’re looking forward to learning the results of the customer vote in early October and then supporting each group to bring their project to life.”