Witney News - Debenhams backing for Witney plastic bags campaign

Debenhams backing for Witney plastic bags campaign

Debenhams has become the first store in the new Witney Marriotts Walk development to sign up to the town’s campaign to reduce the number of plastic bags handed out to shoppers.

The ‘Bags of Life in Witney’ campaign means that any shopper offered a plastic bag when they buy something in a participating town centre store, who says ‘no thanks’ – because they have their own bag for life or re-use an old plastic bag - is given a voucher. The vouchers can then be passed on to a participating school in the town or neighbouring villages, and there’ll be prizes for schools that collect the most.

More than 90 Witney town centre shops and traders had already signed up to be part of the scheme which runs until the end of January 2010. It is funded by Oxfordshire Waste Partnership and led by the Oxfordshire Town Chambers Network (OTCN). A list of the shops and schools currently taking part is available on the Network’s website at www.otcn.co.uk

Alison Nicholson, OTCN, project co-ordinator for the ‘Bags of Life in Witney’ campaign, says: “The involvement of the bigger Witney stores such as Waitrose, Boots and Somerfield is already making a big impact on the number of people refusing a plastic bag. Having Debenhams on board in the new Marriotts Walk development is another great boost.”

Debenhams Sales Manager, Laura Jones, says: “Debenhams Witney is happy to be supporting the local community in this worthwhile scheme.”

OTCN is a communications network bringing together 24 local chambers and other business groups in the county with 1600 member businesses between them, plus 12 events networks with a database reach in excess of 2,500 businesses.

For more details about the scheme visit www.otcn.co.uk/projects/plastic_bags.htm