Massy eliminates 18m single use plastic bags from circulation

Since introducing reusable bags — and charging 50 cents per plastic bag— last year, Massy Stores has so far eliminated 18 million single use plastic bags from circulation.

“We created a stir when we introduced reusable bags,” Massy Regional Digital Director, Candace Ali, said, but it’s paid off, and from June 2018, when the programme started, to January 2019, the company has reduced single use plastic bags from their stores by 85 per cent. By the end of the year, they hope to eliminated 27 million plastic bags. The company has instead, distributed 100,000 reusable bags (which are also sold in store for $10). “Now you see Massy reusable bags going everywhere, to the beach, fetes... just remember to keep them in the car for when you go to the store,” she said.

It’s a sustainable shift, she said, driven by customers. The company has also introduced reverse vending machines, where customers can return plastic bottles and aluminum cans in exchange for Massy points. So far the machines are in Westmoorings, Alyce Glen and Maraval, but the plan is to have them rolled out throughout the country. The hold up is logistical, Ali said, especially with bringing the machines in and clearing them through customs, but they are moving along so the next roll out should be soon. In the meantime, customers have returned 527,000 aluminum cans and 1.6 million plastic bottles.

And what does the company do with that 50 cent charge for plastic bags? Ali said the company has pledged that proceeds from the charge will go to environmental causes and recently made an $80,000 donation to Eco Drivers TT, the only group currently doing underwater clean-ups.

Ali spoke at the British High Commission’s #BeyondPlastic initiative, a worldwide British Foreign and Commonwealth Office project to reduce the use of single use plastic at work.

First started in 2018, the project aims to remove all avoidable single use plastic in the Foreign Office by 2020. Simple things like a “latte levy” encourages staff to increase use of reusable mugs by 30 per cent, High Commissioner Tim Stew said. By the end of 2018, the London FCO had reduced single use plastic by 97 per cent, “just by thinking harder about what we were doing and using, by consciously changing our habits,” Stew said. The local High Commission has followed, he said, by among other things, conducting a plastics audit to see how they’re being used at the office. The high commission has also drafted a plastic reduction and recycling policy, and signed an internal plastic pledge, committing all staff to be mindful of how they use plastics. The high commission has also provided reusable glass containers for lunch, reusable metal water bottles and cloth shopping bags.

“I know there are challenges to tackling old habits. It takes 66 days to change a habit— that’s the end of May. So, I hope we can encourage each other and challenge each other to make a difference, to drive for a cleaner TT and a safer and greener planet,” Stew said.