Dunell’s has become the latest business to pledge to reduce its use of plastic following news that the States is to launch a Plastic Free Island campaign later this year.
Neil Pinel, managing director of Dunell’s, which has three stores in the Island, said that the company would also revive a bottle deposit scheme for some of its glass products.
‘We were thinking about this for a while in our team meetings when we were drinking half-litre bottles of water.
‘We realised that we were partly the culprits and decided that once we sold our existing stock, we would not replenish it,’ he said.
‘We are also planning on getting rid of plastic bags and I am hoping that I will not have to place an order for another lot.
‘I think we will use a cloth-style bag instead that people can come back and
replace, possibly as part of a loyalty scheme.’
This week, Environment Minister Steve Luce gave his backing to a campaign called Plastic Free Island – a local version of a national campaign by Surfers Against Sewage, aimed at reducing the amount of plastic which ends up in the sea.
Mr Pinel added that Dunell’s would also be reintroducing a scheme where customers could return their empty glass Evian and San Pellegrino bottles in return for a cash deposit.
‘We did it about 20 years ago and it was great – people buy a crate of bottles, bring them back and get their deposit back,’ he said.
‘It is a slightly more expensive way of doing it, as we have to ship the empty bottles to the UK to be refilled, but it is worth it.’
‘I am amazed how much of a positive response this has received online. It has had 12,500 views and nearly 500 “likes” which is the most since we posted an appeal for a bottle of port which was stolen from our town shop.’
Meanwhile, Portelet Bay Café has also announced it is to replace plastic water bottles with glass bottles. Customers can also bring their own re-usable bottle to fill up at the café.
And online food delivery business Valley Foods in St Martin is to begin using cardboard boxes rather than plastic packaging, while also reducing the number of plastic bags it gives out.
AR Vitel Butchers in St John has also encouraged its customers to take home their goods in reusable containers rather to reduce reliance on plastic bags.
