Massy Stores committed to environmental protection

LOCAL supermarket chain Massy Stores has placed environmental responsibility over financial cost in an attempt to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

This was the view of the head of Marketing Anthony Choo Quan who along with other staff distributed hundreds of reusable, biodegradable grocery bags to pedestrians and motorists along the Eastern Main Road in St Augustine on Monday.

Choo Quan said it was the company’s intention to take a more proactive approach in reducing its use of plastic and taking a more environmentally responsible approach with its day to day operations. He said despite the added cost of manufacturing the bags, the objective of the campaign was to encourage and inspire customers to do their part in reducing pollution.

“The whole idea is to reduce plastic, to reduce, reuse and recycle. We are asking customers to use the reusable bags instead of the plastic bags so we are hoping to give away somewhere between 50,000 to 60,000 bags through this initiative.

“Of course these bags are more expensive to make than the plastic bags, but they can also be used more than plastic bags, also the real aim of these bags is to stopping the use of plastic.”

He said the bags would be available through different offers where public would be able to buy one and get another free and also where they would be able to get a free bag with any purchase of items over $500. Newsday spoke to long-time Massy Stores shopper Cherry-Ann Thompson who said she was happy with the company’s decision to become more environmentally aware and said the new bags were more durable and convenient to shoppers as they could be reused multiple times.