Derry retailers commit to cleaning up community

Two retailers in Derry and Limavady have committed to regular community clean ups for their local areas, and are encouraging others to get involved.

Eurospar Rossdowney in Derry's Waterside and Spar Limavady are two of 175 Spar, Eurospar and Vivo stores that completed a clean-up of their local areas in recent months – something that will continue on a regular basis, with focus events annually.

The team in the city focused on their local area around Rossdowney Park, Woodburn and Lincoln Court, as well as Kilfennan Valley Park, while in Limavady the team cleaned up the community around the store and the Bovally area. The stores lifted 11 bags of litter in total.

Henderson Group, which owns the Spar brand in Northern Ireland launched the initiative and provided stores across NI with litter picking kits to help keep their communities clean. 

The kits include large bin bags, pickers, high visibility vests and gloves, as well as in-store signage to encourage shoppers to use the bins provided both inside and outside stores. The signage is dotted throughout stores, but prominently displayed beside high litter generating products such as plastic bottles, to continue to remind shoppers to dispose of their waste appropriately.

The early success of the campaign, which has seen retail teams returning 1,626 bags of rubbish from across NI, will see stores continue to help clean up their communities regularly, with focus events taking place annually. 

Bronagh Luke, Head of Corporate Marketing at Hendersons commented: “Unfortunately, littering continues to be a plight within every community in Northern Ireland, and there has been little evidence of behavioural change in those who are the serial offenders. 

“Operating over 100 stores and supplying to over 400 more in every city, town and village in Northern Ireland, we are committed to making those neighbourhoods great places to live and are delighted to have the resource and volunteers to implement this initiative.

The team from Eurospar Rossdowney.

“Littering simply should not be as big a problem as it is. We are very proud of the communities within which our stores operate, and we hope this initiative will encourage a change of behaviour when it comes to disposing of waste, particularly from purchases made at our stores.”

Barista Bar, the retail coffee brand which is available in over 400 Spar, Eurospar and Vivo branded stores in Northern Ireland has committed to numerous litter picks throughout Northern Ireland, in efforts to reduce the number of single use cups that are not disposed of correctly.

In 2019, the brand launched their own reusable cups and has reached sales of 20,000 drinks per month with shoppers using the Barista Bar reusable cup – an increase of 12% from 2022, to date. There are now almost 100,000 cups in use across Northern Ireland, with 113,000 users registered with Barista Bar’s loyalty scheme, incentivising shoppers to live more sustainably with various rewards available.

Keavy O’Mahony-Truesdale, Brand Manager at Barista Bar added: “We all have a responsibility help address the issues around litter and we have dedicated a huge amount of time and investment in encouraging our shoppers to invest in a reusable cup to try and make a positive social impact in the communities in which we operate.

“We are committed to being a sustainable brand, and are pleased with the uptake in our reusable cups, however there is still a huge amount of work to be done to change the habits of those who litter on a regular basis. Barista Bar sponsors Walk NI and their associated campaigns, such as Leave No Trace and the Right Side of Outside, to help educate, promote and support Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful.”