M&S to feature recycled clothes and carrier bag charges

And, a trial will see the company charging shoppers in Northern Ireland 5p for standard plastic carrier bags.

M&S; chief executive Stuart Rose is driving “fundamental” change to improve his company's environmental impact

As it revealed profits of 965m today, the company also disclosed the progress being made in its 200m “Plan A” programme, which was launched in January with the aim of improving the retail chain's environmental footprint (see letsrecycle.com story).

It said 75% of all construction waste from store developments is now being sent for recycling, while paper used in stores and head offices – some 175 million sheets – is now made with 80% recycled content.

Trials to reduce packaging use have seen ready meals using 31% less packaging overall and 75% less plastic. And, the company has launched three “eco factories” in Sri Lanka and North Wales that aim to move towards zero waste to landfill.

Marks and Spencer chief executive Stuart Rose said: “We’re already making progress on our 100 ‘Plan A’ goals, but we’ve a long way to go before we meet the ambitious targets we’ve set. This is a business-wide plan, which means we’re fundamentally changing the way we operate, and not just cherry picking individual initiatives.”

Clothing
On its clothing range, the company said it had carried out a trial of recycled polyester fleeces at its store in Edgware Road, London, and as a result was looking to use more of the material. “From Autumn, we will sell a range of men's and women's fleeces made from recycled polyester. We will also start selling recycled polyester men's trousers in 10 stores from June.

“Instead of oil, we are using 11 plastic bottles to create each fleece and 14 plastic bottles for each pair of trousers,” it said. The recycled polyester will come from China and Taiwan, but will feed global demand for plastic bottles – and reduce the use of virgin plastics.

In the UK, Marks and Spencer is to send plastic waste from its stores to the new Closed Loop London plastic recycling plant in London, which is set to open in December 2007 to produce new food-grade packaging from plastic bottles (see letsrecycle.com story). The company's plastic milk bottles for its organic line now include 10% recycled HDPE.

Bags
Tackling the issue of plastic carrier bags, Marks & Spencer said it had seen a 68% increase in sales of its re-usable “Bags for Life” since March, following a price cut from 15p to 10p each.

The company is running a trial in Northern Ireland in which it will hand out free re-usable bags in June, then in July shoppers will be charged 5p to use ordinary plastic carrier bags. Carrier bag recycling facilities into its Northern Ireland stores from the 1st of July for customers who want to recycle any carrier bags or need to replace their redundant ‘Bags for Life’.

Carrier bags in the chain's clothing stores are already being made from 100% recycled plastic, and from June bags in its food stores will include 20% of recycled content.

Neil Hyslop, divisional executive for Ireland said: “We hope that giving away our new ‘Bags for Life’ throughout June will encourage to customers to reuse and recycle them rather than pay the 5p charge for our standard food carrier bags when we introduce it in July.”

Funds from the 5p charges will go to environmental charity Groundwork Northern Ireland.