Despite the efforts of Harrogate Water and other stakeholders to convince government that plastic bottles containing water are not ‘single use’ items, Morrisons has announced it will begin trialling reverse vending machines, which will ‘allow its customers to return single-use plastic bottles’.
It is the supermarket’s latest move in their war on plastic waste, designed to reduce their impact on the environment.
The first two reverse vending machines are destined for the firm’s Skipton branch in North Yorkshire, and Lindsayfield, in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire. They are scheduled to be in service for an initial period of 6 months. The machines will allow customers to deposit bottles in return for points coupons and they will accept all plastic bottles that have a barcode, plus Morrisons own-brand bottles that may not have one.
Customers can return a maximum of 20 bottles a day and receive 100 Morrisons More points for each one, in the form of a coupon, which can be spent in store
Alternatively, they can choose to donate 10p to the supermarket’s charity partner, CLIC Sargent.
The supermarket said it will be listening to customers during the trial to understand their response to the reverse vending machines and how they can be used to reduce the impact of plastic on the environment.
Morrisons Group Corporate Services Director Andrew Clappen said: “We want to play our part in making sure plastic bottles are collected and recycled. “We’ll listen to customers as they use these reverse vending machines.”
The scheme follows a number of moves by Morrisons to reduce customers’ use of plastics.
These include the re-introduction of brown paper bags for fruit and veg and rewarding shoppers who bring their own containers for meat and fish.
Althught the initiative has been welcomed by environmentalists, Greenpeace has said that recycling is not enough. ‘Every minute, every single day, the equivalent of a truckload of plastic enters our oceans’, said Annie Leonard, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA. ‘In the name of profit and convenience, corporations are literally choking our planet with a substance that does not just “go away” when we toss it into a bin. Since the 1950s, some 8.3bn tons of plastic have been produced worldwide, and to date, only 9% of that has been recycled. Our oceans bear the brunt of our plastics epidemic – up to 12.7m tons of plastic end up in them every year.’
Harrogate Water Argues The Case For PET Plastic Bottles, HERE ON PV
‘How to change the world, one plastic bottle at a time’, by Will McCallum, Head of the Oceans Campaign at Greenpeace UK, is HERE.
