Guernsey Press

Shop adds up the plastic saved

A ZERO waste shop in St Peter Port has thanked its customers for helping prevent the use of 170,000 pieces of plastic.

Published
Guernsey Weigh staff Ashley Laymon-Ogier, left, with Sapphire brewer-Marchant. (Picture by Cassidy Jones, 29639253)

The Guernsey Weigh took over part of the Town Market's Inner Street in June 2019, offering a huge array of products that people could purchase using their own containers.

Failing that, the customer could use a paper bag or a glass container purchased from the shop itself.

Guernsey Weigh staff celebrating the shop's second birthday. Left to right: Ashley Laymon-Ogier and Sapphire brewer-Marchant. (Picture by Cassidy Jones, 29639249)

Manager Ashley Laymon-Ogier said that the figure was arrived at after looking at all of the transactions that have taken place in the shop over the last two years.

So if someone filled a paper bag with sweets, that was a plastic bag saved, similarly if they bought a bottle to fill with washing up liquid.

As more people have started to become aware of the issues with plastic in the environment, so has the popularity of zero-waste products increased.

Ashley Laymon-Ogier, left, and Sapphire brewer-Marchant at the Guernsey Weigh. (Picture by Cassidy Jones, 29639251)

While providing staple products such as tea, coffee, soaps and detergents, more eclectic things have proven to be popular.

Mrs Laymon-Ogier said that a regular feature in its top-10 weekly sales has been grind-your-own peanut butter.