What has Massy’s plastic bag charge been used for?

On July 3, 2018 the supermarket chain Massy Stores (SLU) Ltd implemented a 25 cents charge for the single-use plastic bags used for bagging groceries at checkout. The company stated that the strategy formed part of its commitment to becoming more environmentally friendly. It also indicated that proceeds from the plastic bag sales would be placed into a special fund to help with environmental awareness, recycling, waste collection and repurposing projects.

On July 18 this year, the company announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Saint Lucia National Conservation Fund to “manage a portion of the funds collected from the plastic charge”. Valued at EC$150,000, Massy said the MOU will allow the SLUNCF to make grants for conservation and environment related activities. A press release stated that environmental projects with a focus on plastic waste management, or which have a plastic waste management component, will receive priority. 

On Wednesday, CEO of the SLUNCF Dr. Vasantha Chase told the STAR they are yet to issue any grants but a call for proposals will be made to the public some time in September. “We’ll have the call for proposals and people will be able to submit what is referred to as their concept notes,” she said. “Then the technical advisory committee, in consultation with Massy, will review these concept notes and the top four or five projects will be chosen. It will then be submitted to our board and also to Massy’s board. We suspect we’ll pick up about three or four of the very best and then we will issue the grants.” Dr. Chase said there will be a limit to how much a hopeful can request for funding but that amount will be made known at a later date. 

Asked what was the total amount raised from the plastic bag charge from July 2018 to July 2019, Massy’s Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications Mrs. Sariah Best-Joseph told the STAR a disclosure will be made in the company’s annual report but the company has so far donated $175,000 towards environmental partnerships and initiatives. 

These initiatives, Joseph outlined, saw Massy supporting various organisations. EC$2,500 went to the Saint Lucia National Trust for Earth Day activities which included beach rehabilitation and conservation, and tree planting. $7,500 was contributed to Jua Kali Ltd for its waste diversion depot initiative as well as to volunteers. At a waste diversion depot, one can earn Massy Loyalty Points in exchange for used plastic, glass and tin items.  

For World Biodiversity Day, World Environment Day and World Oceans Day, $5,000 in product support was made out to the Ministry of Sustainable Development. The National Conservation Authority was supported by way of $6,000 for a Beach Education and Action Campaign. Then there is the $150,000 MOU, and the remainder was utilised for clean-up campaigns held around World Environment Day. 

Best-Joseph said that as at July 3, 2019 there was an eighty per cent decrease in single-use plastic bag usage across the company’s ten supermarkets. “This translates to 6.5 million single-use plastic bags diverted from our landfill, waterways and beaches,” she said. “We welcome future opportunities to fund projects, which will further support plastic waste management and help mitigate some of the challenges which we currently experience in
Sain Lucia.”