Watford’s Next is one of four branches across the country trialling a new charge aiming to reduce plastic waste.

The fashion retailer has started asking customers to pay 15p to take clothes hangers home with them, but only at the Waterfields Shopping Park location and stores in Bristol, Preston, and Bishop Auckland.

If the new scheme is successful it is expected to be expanded nationwide.

A Next spokesperson said: “We are trying to reduce the amount of plastic being used to help protect the environment, therefore we retain the hangers and reuse them across the business. The small charge goes towards the production of more hangers.”

The trial is not believed to be in place at the atria Watford Next.

It comes after Tesco trialled a 10p charge for customers who want to keep hangers at some of its stores in April, and Matalan introducing the same charge nationwide last year.

All three companies said they have introduced the measure to cut down on plastic waste.