River Island, Holland & Barrett and Dunelm have become the first retailers to sign up to a “paperless pledge”, promising to stop offering paper receipts by 2023 unless customers specifically ask for them.

Currently, most retailers will automatically print a paper receipt, regardless of whether the customer needs one. The campaign group behind the pledge, #BeatTheReceipt, has won the support of leading retail bodies including the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Independent Retailers Association, which are calling on members to abandon automatic printing.