Business giants take a stand against single-use plastic bags

May 18, 2018

Business giants take a stand against single-use plastic bags

Chief Experience Officer for the Warehouse Group, David Benattar. Photo: Gabrielle Tutheridge.

Retail corporations across the country are taking steps to phase out single-use plastic bags.

The Warehouse Group announced today that they will be phasing out single-use plastic bags for good.

David Benattar, Chief Experience Officer of The Warehouse Group, wants all retail businesses to take on their approach.

Mr Benattar says, “We don’t need to combat each other, we just need to all adopt the most progressive environmental practices, to improve our performance.”

The Warehouse Group will be supplying plant-based compostable bags, says Mr Bennattar.

“These bags turn back into zero-impact materials, ten times faster than plastic bags.”

Mr Benattar says, “The new bags will be charged out 15 cents, because sourcing plant-based bags are more expensive. We will charge more and then we will donate more.”

Rodney Duke, Group Managing Director of the Briscoe Group, says they will adopt the same approach. “We are going to do exactly the same.”

Mr Duke could not comment on when ‘exactly’ they would be phasing out their plastic bags, but “the announcement will be made in the next short period.”

Mr Benattar says they are not only doing this for the environment, but also their customers.

“We surveyed our customers, and 70% of them preferred to shop from a retailer that offers some sort of recyclable bags.”

Mr Duke says there is a mounting pressure on retail giants to become more environmentally conscious and sustainable.

Mr Duke says, “I think the general public can expect that of businesses.”

Hoping to make single-use plastic bags a thing of the past, Mr Duke says that in the future, “[The Briscoe Group] are likely to see multi-use non-plastic bags.”

The Warehouse Group have been charging 10 cents for single-use plastic bags since 2009, and they have raised over 4 million with all the net proceeds going into community projects.

Mr Benattar says, “We have a constant focus on how we can reduce the use of plastic in the products we are offering, and to do that we are working with our suppliers. It is an on-going conversation, and we need to just keep on innovating.”

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