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M&S tackles plastic waste with a ‘bring your own bag’ program for click & collect orders of fashion and home goods
Marks & Spencer is stepping up its fight against plastic waste by launching a ‘bring your own bag’ initiative in hundreds of stores.
Online orders are usually packed in green sealed plastic bags when customers pick them up.
But at the retailer’s 251 stores, customers must bring their own bags for orders of fashion and home goods.
Green scheme: In the retailer’s 251 stores, customers must bring their own bags when they pick up fashion and home goods
This saves as much as 10 million units of plastic per year, according to M&S.
Forgetful shoppers will be reassured that the retail giant will remind them of the policy at online checkout and when they are notified that their order is ready for collection.
Stephen Langford, director of M&S.com, said yesterday that the retailer wants to use click & collect “to encourage a change in behavior that helps reduce the consumption of single-use plastics.”
A seven-month trial in 16 stores helped remove more than 109,000 pieces of plastic from the shopping process.
Customers who used click & collect in the pilot stores saw the initiative as “a simple action that together can make a big difference,” says Langford.
The loyal High Street, which has 1,487 stores, hopes to extend the policy to all click & collect orders in the longer term.
The company aims to remove 75 million pieces of plastic packaging from its clothing and home business.
MRS shares yesterday gained 3.2 percent, or 4.95p, to 157.85p.