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HEART OF ENGLAND CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY CUSTOMERS URGED TO SUPPORT THE BAG FOR LIFE CAMPAIGN
The Heart of England Co-operative Society is urging customers to buy environmentally friendly Bags for Life in its bid to reduce its carbon footprint.
From this week the Society, which has branches across Coventry, Warwickshire and south Leicestershire, has removed plastic carrier bags from its checkouts. Although they will still be available upon request customers will instead be encouraged to invest in Bags for Life.
The measures are being brought in as part of the Co-operative Buying Group’s efforts to reduce waste. With the alarming news that 13 billion plastic carrier bags are given away to UK shoppers every year – taking an estimated 1,000 years to decay.
As of now shoppers will be offered a re-usable, recyclable plastic ‘Bag for Life’, costing 10p or a Fairtrade cotton carrier bag, at a cost of 99p.
Peter Fletcher, Deputy General Manager of the Society’s Food Division, said: “The message we are trying to get across in this new campaign is a bag is for life and not just one shopping trip.
Picture caption: Becky Talbot and Lokesh Patel, Marketing & Planning Manager.
“With a Bag for Life, shoppers can use it again and again, at least 35 times more than an ordinary plastic carrier bag. And when it wears out we will replace it at no extra cost to our customers.
“Or maybe our customers prefer the Fairtrade cotton carrier bag. These are the first supermarket carrier bags in Britain to be Fairtrade certified and are made from unbleached, hand washable, biodegradable cotton.”
The Bags for Life and Fairtrade cotton bags are the latest in a series of measures the Society has taken to reduce its carbon footprint.
All new stores or newly refurbished stores are fitted with energy efficient lighting and refrigeration systems. All are purchased from local suppliers in the Society’s effort to reduce transportation and to support local industry.
The Society is also a keen supporter of Fairtrade and stocks a wide range of Fairtrade lines. Every time the Society sells a Fairtrade item it benefits producers in developing countries as the Fairtrade movements works to provide fairer deals in terms of stable prices and long term trading relationships.
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