SPAR Ravenhill and Ballyhackamore are two of the SPAR stores that are joining the effort to reduce plastic bag use as part of a roll out initiative by the Henderson Group. The company announced that, starting 6th July, some of its stores would be partaking in a trial that will no longer offer customers free plastic bags. Regular bags will cost 5p and a bag for life will cost 10p. All proceeds from the bags will go to NSPCC, SPAR’s locally nominated charity by the store.

The ‘Pennies for Plastic’ trial includes 13 local SPAR retailers across Northern Ireland who will be charging customers who opt to take plastic bags in their shops. Although this is a trial with a goal to rollout this initiative across all SPAR’s in Northern Ireland, the aim is to help reduce the stores plastic bag usage and therefore minimise waste. The trial will last three months with a planned phased rollout across the province.

Commenting, David Agnew, Senior Area Manager for the Henderson Group, said: “Reducing, reusing and recycling is core to Henderson’s Corporate and Social Responsibility strategy. We are delighted to be leading the way for SPAR in Northern Ireland and take our environmental and social responsibility seriously. We want to make it easy for our customers to do their bit to help the environment and their local community by reducing plastic bag usage and raising money for the NSPCC.

“We will have already taken several steps towards helping reduce the number of carrier bags by always encouraging customers to think about whether they really need a bag to, now, trialling carrier bag charging in our stores. We also offer our customers a stylish yet sustainable bag solution that they can bring with them each time they shop.”

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