Our aim here is to reduce local plastic bag usage and encourage people to shop locally within Finsbury Park.
To do this we will create a fabric 'Shop N4' carrier bag that also acts as a loyalty card. The retailer receives the subsidised bag from us, Transition Finsbury Park, and keeps the profit made from selling it to customers. In return, the retailers offer a small percentage discount to customers every time the 'Shop N4' bag is used in their store. The success of the scheme is ensured by both the incentive to consumers to reuse the bags and the incentive to the retailer in their distribution: they make a clear profit on each bag sold. Shops also benefit from free advertising on the bags and also from the general 'Shop N4' message.
We are currently applying for funding for this project as well as carrying out some research: what bags do shoppers like and how much are they prepared to pay; would shopkeepers like to offer a 5% discount or just a nominal amount off, eg 5p?
