AN ENGINEERING company has come up with a new system it believes could get rid of disposable carrier bags – but claims the big supermarkets aren’t interested.
Despite the pressure on big stores to slash the number of plastic bags given to customers and reduce the millions dumped in landfill sites each year, Gateshead-based Joma Engineering says it is impossible to get through to anyone at the big supermarkets to discuss their idea.
Ray Fenwick and Ian Fearon, who co-own the company, have been trying for a year to persuade someone to look at their revolutionary trolley which contains four biodegradable plastic bags. The bags hook into the trolley, the shopping is placed inside them and once the goods have been through the checkout, customers reload the trolley and put the bags into their car. Made of a tough, non-woven fabric, the bags are used again and again.
Fenwick said: “I got the idea from looking at files in a filing cabinet and realised that a hook system was what was needed for these trolleys. The trolley has been designed with no front so that the bags can easily be taken from the trolley and placed directly into the boot of the car.”
More than 10bn carrier bags are produced in the UK annually and they can take hundreds of years to biodegrade in landfill sites.
But despite supermarkets repeatedly boasting about their green credentials and their efforts to cut their carbon footprint, Fearon says it is impossible to talk to them about new ideas.
He said: “We have been trying for a year to interest the supermarkets, but we can’t get past the front desk. It’s like climbing a lamppost covered in grease.”
The business, a steel fabricator and high precision engineering firm employing seven people, has sourced manufacturers in China able to produce both the bags and the trolleys. It is now trying to find a UK trolley business which may be interested in taking the idea forward.
Fearon said: “We’ve had the trolley tested in a local mini market and it is very manoeuvrable and holds the same amount as a conventional trolley. We’ve also found that the bags remain upright in the back of cars and are more comfortable to carry for those using public transport or walking.”
