It’s a good month for sustainability so far.
Yesterday (1 March), a drinks company announced the arrival of what is believed to be Wales’ first-ever gin refill station, with the aim to save on waste by allowing customers to bring in and top up their old bottles.
The initiative follows in the footsteps of the NB Distillery in Scotland, where in 2019 owners Vivienne and Steve Muir decided to offer customers a refill alternative on vodka, gin and rum.
Now, it’s Marks & Spencer’s turn.
Last year, the supermarket chain launched a new scheme that allows customers to pick up items such as pasta, coffee, rice and cereals in their own containers, to cut down on unnecessary plastic waste.
The ‘fill your own’ option has proven so popular among customers that 25 out of the 44 items on the product list are outselling packaged equivalents.
When it first began, the initiative was only available at the M&S store in Hedge End, Southampton, but thanks to the success it has seen, it will now be rolled out to a second store in Manchester.
A recent survey conducted by the British chain also revealed that three quarters of shoppers want to use less plastic, so the expansion appears to be a win-win situation.
‘Our “fill your own” concept is one area we’re focusing on as part of our action to reduce plastic packaging and support our customers to reuse and recycle,’ Paul Willgoss, director of food technology at Marks & Spencer, told The Guardian.
“We’re keen to better understand refill across the entire store process from behind the scenes operations to working with our customers to encourage behaviour change.”
Some of the best-sellers from the refill station include triple chocolate crunch cereal, basmati rice, milk chocolate raisins, single-origin Brazilian coffee and fiorelli pasta.
Interestingly, the survey results also showed that the biggest issue for 38% customers who want to shop loose or plastic-free produce is finding a store that offers this as an alternative option.
On the upside, with this latest news they now have one more place to do just that.
MORE: Drinks company launches gin refill station to help the environment
MORE: Lidl’s fresh fish packaging will be made from recycled plastic bound for the ocean
source https://metro.co.uk/2020/03/02/marks-spencer-expands-fill-container-scheme-reduce-plastic-waste-12332287/?ITO=squid
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