Retail Crime and Reinforcing One Change

This week I attended a board meeting organised by the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS), the voice of local shops, in London. Among the topics we discussed was retail crime, a topic I have raised at previous meetings. The ACS together with the shop workers union USDAW has been campaigning for a long time to convince the Government to introduce tougher penalties for attacks on shop workers. I’m glad to report that as a result of the ACS’ efforts the Home Office will now be launching a formal consultation on tackling violence in the retail sector, running an industry led but Government funded campaign highlighting the issues and reviewing the sentencing given to offenders.

This week we also launched our ‘One Change’ campaign to reduce single use plastics. The campaign has received really good national media coverage including in the Sun, Mirror, Independent, Huffington Post, the Grocer and the Metro. This is a fantastic start to our campaign and shows Midcounties taking a lead on tackling this important issue. To read one of the articles click here.

As part of the campaign we have had a striking sculpture of a giant bumble bee installed at Head Office made entirely from recycled plastic. Designed and created by local artist Ros Mayo, the bee’s feet are made from reused plastic forks and the top of her antennae are recycled hair doughnuts. The plastic bumble bee is in good company next to our hive of real honey bees which I’m delighted to say have survived the winter well and are now busy gathering pollen. I’ve heard a rumour that Phil Ponsonbee has been put forward for the competition to name the bee and while I’d be delighted to have it named after me, I’m hoping that we can come up with something even better!

Our new bumble bee buzzing around outside Co-operative House made entirely from recycled plastic

On Monday as part of the campaign we will be launching our new ‘Ecobricks’ initiative at our Chipping Norton store. Ecobricks are plastic bottles filled with compacted plastics which would otherwise have gone to waste. Working with local primary schools we plan to build a turkey hut and benches with the bricks at Fairy Tale farm, one of our community partners. To build the hut and benches will require about a thousand Ecobricks and the structures will be unveiled during Co-operative Fortnight (24 June to 7 July 2019).

I also wanted to add my congratulations to all our colleagues who have helped us be awarded the title of Walsall Works Gold Partner. Gold partners are ones that have demonstrated the highest level of commitment to creating social value and have excelled in helping local communities and the borough’s most vulnerable groups to participate and prosper in a range of activities. We were 1 of 6 partners to be awarded in recognition of our social investment into the Walsall Community. For more information click here.

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