BYO bags latest thing for the environmentally aware shopper
Forget billing the environmental bandits, New World stores are giving out discounts for customers who help them save on plastic.
Five Wellington stores are giving customers money back for recycling – five cents off for each bag they bring in themselves, and fill.
‘‘The idea is to reward the customer for being responsible. . . rather than saying to people ‘you’re terribly evil and we’re going to have to charge you for them,’’’ Foodstuffs sustainability manager Mike Simmons said.
The insiders have a name for when the 5c-10c charge on plastic bags drifted into supermarkets in 2009.
‘‘Bag-gate was about seven years ago,’’ Simmons said, ‘‘and Countdown didn’t do it, and everyone
There’s a lot of stores that are making environmental decisions. Andrew Summerville
went and shopped in Countdown. We lost quite a lot of trade.
‘‘If it looks like a win-win for everyone, we will look at taking that to every New World in the country later in the year.’’
Karori New World owner Andrew Summerville estimated his store went through 15,000 fewer plastic bags in May alone due to the incentive, and dished out close to 7800 rebates.
Summerville felt there was a misconception that stores only act in favour of the environment if it saves them money. ‘‘We’re going back to the old school with our fish and we’re wrapping it in paper.
‘‘It costs us more but it’s a fraction here and a fraction there to reduce our overall footprint.’’
‘‘There’s a lot of stores that are making environmental decisions because it’s the right thing to do.’’
In nearby New World Churton Park, owner Butch Phelan wants eventually to phase out plastic bags completely.
‘‘We won’t necessarily see a difference in this lifetime, but you will in 200 years.’’
Foodstuff’s move to recyclable meat trays has made headlines in recent times, reducing meat tray waste to landfill by 80 per cent.
Not only are the trays graded as PET plastic – number 1 in the recycling world, they’re actually constructed from 50 per cent reused materials, Simmons said.
The trays will be in every Pak N Save and New World store by the end of the month.