‘BYOB’: M&S is the first major retailer to roll out reduced packaging initiative in Northern Ireland

M&S has stepped-up its commitment to reduce its use of plastic packaging with the announcement that it is rolling out a new ‘BYOB’ – Bring Your Own Bag – click & collect initiative to 10 stores across Northern Ireland.

The initiative takes away the need for the traditional plastic carrier across online orders that are picked and packed at the collection store by asking customers to bring their own bag. M&S is the first large retailer to adopt this approach which will save over 180 thousand units of plastic annually in Northern Ireland.

The roll-out follows a successful trial at 16 M&S stores in England and the ROI with customers reminded at point of checkout to bring their own bag when coming into store to collect an order placed online – a further reminder is sent when the customer is notified that their order is ready to collect.

Over the course of seven months, 39,347 orders were fulfilled this way, removing over 109 thousand units of plastic and customers praising the approach as ‘simple and straightforward’ and an easy way to help them reduce their own plastic consumption.

More than 60% of customers opt for click & collect – that’s over 15million orders annually across the UK and of those orders - 25% are picked and packed in the customer’s local store – the equivalent of 4million parcels. Over the next few months, all click & collect orders that are picked and packed at the customers local collection store will be provided to the customer without a plastic carrier – with the ambition to expand the initiative to all click & collect orders in the longer-term.

M&S has a ‘from check in to parcel in hands’ target of one minute for all Click & Collect orders.

Phil Wiltshire, store manager at M&S Lisburn, said: “We’re very proud to be among the 10 stores in Northern Ireland to be offering this new click & collect plastic saving initiative. M&S is the first large retailer to adopt this approach, and we’re thrilled to be leading the way in reducing packaging waste. Our customers already actively engage in the practice of reusing bags when shopping in person with us and I have no doubt they will support our next step in tackling plastic consumption.”

Stephen Langford, director of M&S.com, explained: “Using our stores to fulfil click & collect orders continues to grow and we want to use this as a channel to encourage a behaviour change that helps to reduce unnecessary packaging waste. During trial phase, we had great feedback from customers as they saw it as a simple action that, collectively, can make a big difference.”