STELLARTON
On Thursday Sobeys began the Nova Scotia rollout of a new, free, environmentally responsible, single-use plastic bag including in stores in Pictou County.
It’s the next step in introducing a bag that uses 30 per cent less plastic to Sobeys stores across Canada. The bags for the grocer’s needs across Canada will be produced in Atlantic Canada through a new contract with Inteplast of New Brunswick.
The Nova Scotia rollout started with a select group of stores in northern Nova Scotia including all four locations in Pictou County, home of the Sobeys head office.
As part of the rollout, Sobeys is also encouraging customers to adopt the use of reusable bags to support Sobeys’ commitment to the environment and sustainability.
“The bigger story here is our focus on moving toward reusable, more sustainable options to carry your groceries home,” said Paul McLeod, VP Operations, Sobeys Atlantic. “We are focused on making it easier for our customers to choose reusable bags and to make use of our on-site plastic bag collection bin program. We invite our customers to deposit any and all of their used plastic bags in our bins for reuse and recycling right here in Atlantic Canada.”
To kick off the launch of the single-use bag, Sobeys is giving away a free, reusable ‘Bag for Life’ to customers who spend 50 dollars or more and swipe their AIR MILES card, between June 21 and June 27.
Sobeys has also solidified a partnership with Atlantic Canada-based supplier Inteplast to provide in-store plastic bag collection bins. Every week, Inteplast co-ordinates pickups from Sobeys stores and takes the bags to their plant in New Brunswick where they are recycled into other plastic goods.
The new bag is already in use in P.E.I. Sobeys was recently awarded the Environmental Leadership Award by the Retail Council of Canada. The award recognized and celebrated Sobeys’ ongoing effort to reduce the amount of plastic in waste, encouraging customers to use reusable bags, and promoting plastic bag recycling when the new plastic bag was first introduced in P.E.I. in March 2018.
Sobeys expects to roll out the new plastic bag across Nova Scotia, the rest of Atlantic Canada, and the entire country in the coming months.
