Triumph In Government Bag Target
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn announced recently that efforts to half the number of throw away plastic carrier bags supermarkets give their customers have narrowly failed… but not at Jempson’s.
Our Peasmarsh superstore along with our sister Jempson’s/Budgens stores have already successfully addressed this major environmental issue, having phased out all use of disposable carrier bags across the stores from April 2008 as part of the Jempson’s ‘Go-Green’ campaign.
The ‘Get a Bag Habit’ is aimed at encouraging and reminding customers to use, cloth, jute or extra strong bags instead of the disposable carriers. We offer durable long-life reusable bags, high quality jute bags and empty cardboard boxes – which are free of charge.
Under our policy of re-using the cardboard boxes as opposed to carrier bags, in the last 12 months the Peasmarsh store alone has stopped 75 tonnes, or an estimated 3 million bags, going to landfill and blighting the landscape, and with all stores combined circa 150 tonnes.
Andrew Jempson said “Jempson’s has an on-going commitment to this issue and our Go Green campaign, and by working together with customers we have made a difference. The government set a target of a 50% reduction, the multiples only achieved 48% and we have made 90%”. Brother Stephen added “We would like to thank our customers for their continued support of this initiative, and we really appreciate the efforts they have made to enable us to achieve this incredible figure”.
