Pret a Manger, the sandwich shop with a conscience, has a plan. Its co-mingled recycling campaign is in the early stages – with trials in 3 shops underway right now – but already sounds promising, providing special bins in-store to collect every bit of rubbish then sort it out for recycling later. I’ve been told that Pret is aiming to get the scheme into 90% of its stores by the summer.
But just how effective can the scheme be? Well, according to commercial director Simon Hargraves, 96% of all of Pret’s packaging can be recycled, hinting that the instore plan ought to be hugely successful. I phoned up Simon and quizzed him on other elements of Pret’s sustainable outlook.
When do you expect the co-mingled scheme will reach Pret stores?
Simon Hargraves: “We’ve carried out several trials over 2 years. While it seems relatively straightforward, customer recycling is actually ground breaking stuff and fraught with challenges. We’re not happy with the design of the bins at present. We’re on our third version so far. Our fourth, and very likely our last, arrives for trial at the end of this month. We expect to roll out to 90% of our shops across the country by end of Summer 2008.”
Does Pret have any predictions for the success of the scheme?
SH: “96% of our packaging can be recycled, and we’ve made the scheme as easy as possible. All packaging goes into one side of the bin and all left over food in the other. There is also a hole for leftover liquids (coffee dregs, emptying cans etc). The trials have shown that customers aren’t all adhering to the simple rules (understandable) and this leads to contamination, which ultimately reduce the amount of waste that will be accepted at the recycling plants.
