Shoppers at Central England Co-op stores in Derby can now purchase a dual-purpose compostable carrier bag for their groceries

Posted by james brindle | Published: 16/10/2019


Shoppers visiting Central England Co-op stores in the Derby area are being offered an environmentally-friendly compostable carrier bag to help support efforts to reduce single-use plastic.

The 6p green carrier bag is a compostable and biodegradable plastic bag that can hold shoppers’ groceries; however, it can also be reused as food waste caddy liner as it is suitable for home and municipal composting.

The bags are now available to customers visiting 19 Central England Co-op stores served by Derby City Council, which recently started accepting the dual-purpose bag into its waste collections.

Hannah Gallimore, Corporate Responsibility Manager at Central England Co-op, said: “We are delighted that Derby City Council is accepting the green, compostable carrier bags into its waste collections. We worked closely with the Authority to ensure the bags are on sale in the correct locations to correspond with the council’s recycling remit.

“The launch of the compostable bags follows the phasing out of all single-use carrier bags in our food stores earlier this year and compliments the 10p recyclable bag for life already available to customers.

“The green carrier bags are slightly smaller than a conventional supermarket carrier to ensure it fits kitchen caddies properly, but the material is strong and the bag features long carry/tie handles to make emptying the caddy easy.

“Having a second use for the bags reduces the possibility of the bags becoming an item of litter, but if they are discarded, they will biodegrade in the environment relatively quickly.

“As a responsible business, we are committed to minimising our impact on the environment, so are therefore delighted to extend the launch of these green carrier bags into our Derby stores.”

Central England Co-operative recently made the decision to phase single-use plastic bags out of circulation across its 244 food stores to save 12 million pieces of single-use plastic per year.

 

Notes to editors

About Central England Co-operative

Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK. 

It is a modern, forward-looking organisation employing over 8,000 staff, with the Society’s principal areas of activity being food, funeral services, travel shops, and property investment.

Central England Co-operative has over 400 trading outlets across 16 counties including; West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.  The Society has an ambitious food store development programme for 2019.

Central England Co-operative is proud of its reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.  It is a member of Business in the Community, the membership organisation that stands for responsible business, and has also won many business awards for excellence.  The Society supports a number of charities including Dementia UK and invests a percentage of its trading profit into local communities.

Becoming a member of Central England Co-operative offers a whole host of benefits ranging from collecting points every time you spend in store to earn a share of the profits, access to members activities and community initiatives including the Community Dividend Fund, which hands out grants of up to £5,000 to charities and good causes across the Society’s trading estate.

Find out how to become a Central England Co-operative member by calling 0800 0501 601, emailing members@centralengland.coop or visiting https://www.members.coop

For more information visit www.centralengland.coop, follow Central England Co-operative on Twitter: @mycoopfood, and on Facebook: facebook.com/centralenglandcooperative

Rob Smyth and James Brindle at Central England Co-operative on 01543 421390

Email – publicrelations@centralengland.coop