CUSTOMER CASE: REDUCING PLASTIC BAG USE AT NAKUMATT

To encourage the uptake of the project, Nakumatt Smart shoppers now earn two extra smart points every time they shop with their reusable bags at Nakumatt. In addition, a donation of KShs.5 is made by Nakumatt Holdings to AMREF for every purchase of a Nakumatt reusable bag. All of these efforts are geared toward reducing the consumption of plastic bags.

Before rolling out the campaign, Nakumatt’s internal research findings confirmed the viability of the initiative, which is projected to provide a more than 50% cut on the firm’s use of plastic and paper bags in the next two years. Nakumatt believes that the plastics war can only be won through an integrated, focused and sustainable approach such as the ambitious Nakumatt campaign which is geared toward sensitising end users. Through such a campaign, Nakumatt was able to engage their shoppers to adopt a more responsible attitude by refraining from the use of plastic bags and opting to use reusable bags.

Besides shoppers, Nakumatt is also engaged in a consultative process with key suppliers to reduce unnecessary use of plastics in product packaging.

Across the region, and with daily customer traffic of close to 150,000 customers daily, Nakumatt facilitates the dispensing of more than 350,000 plastic and paper bags.

Nakumatt believes that through this campaign they will encourage at least a million shoppers to reduce their usage of plastic bags and accept goods packed in paper bags, reusable bags and even paper bales.

The desired effect is to reduce Nakumatt’s 350,000 daily dispensing to less than 50,000 paper bags in five years.

This project is spearheaded by all of Nakumatt’s 5,500 staffers across Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Results

The project is expected to provide positive impacts going forward as it encourages and sensitizes the final consumer to play an active role in environmental management.

Use of reusable bags is an effective avenue to instill discipline and ownership amongst consumers. Non-woven plastic (polypropylene) or ‘Green Bags’ are manufactured from polypropylene gas, a by-product of oil refining. They are strong and durable, and can hold more than a conventional single use HDPE shopping bag.