Spar Eastern Cape plans to launch an initiative that urges customers to consider alternative grocery packaging options
Spar Eastern Cape (EC) has declared a war on plastic bags as part of the retailer’s efforts to help protect the environment.
Spar EC plans to launch an initiative that urges customers to consider alternative grocery packaging options.
With hundreds of millions of shopping bags in circulation, Spar EC MD Conrad Isaac said the retailer could no longer ignore its accountability in what was becoming an increasingly harmful situation across the world.
“We believe that safeguarding our environment and the future are often spoken about but not much is done.
“As the biggest food retailer in the Eastern Cape, I believe we have to take care of the health and wellbeing of the communities in which we operate,” he said.
Spar EC will on April 6 and 7 host a campaign to try to encourage shoppers to trade plastic grocery bags for paper bags instead.
Over these two days, while stocks last, members of the public will be given a paper bag free of charge for every ten plastic shopping bags, which can be from any retailer, brought to any one of Spar’s outlets in the Eastern Cape.
An initial order of 300 000 waxlined and waterproof reusable paper shopping bags, which are capable of carrying 12 kg each, was placed to accommodate the demand, Isaac added.
He foresaw the campaign evolving into a far bigger project than just plastic bags, one that would eventually incorporate the collection and recycling of all plastic.
“For now, we are focusing on plastic shopping bags. If we can change the habits of the communities, then over time, we will be contributing to a cause with real benefits for our society.”