Environment-friendly shopping bag unveiled

A new shopping bag that is friendly to the environment has been unveiled by the Rye Chamber of Commerce. The reusable shopping bag is made of jute and has been designed by Steve Duffy who is a local artist and potter. The reusable shopping bags bear an image of the skyline of Rye.

The Rye Chamber of Commerce has been very active in recycling initiatives and for over twenty four months the Chamber has been partnering with the Rother Environmental Group and Smurfit Recycling in a cardboard recycling project. The scheme has turned out to be a success and more than 1.1 tonnes of cardboard are being recycled on a weekly basis. Now other urban areas are taking a keen interest in the example that the Rye Chamber of Commerce has set.

In 2007 the Rye Chamber of Commerce learnt that commercial glass in the town was being dumped in landfill sites and they found a solution in the name of GreenBottles which is operated by Emma Watkins. Currently most of the pubs and hotels in the town have now joined the scheme which enables them to recycle their glass.

Pat Field, of the Rye Chamber of Commerce, admitted that the body was thrilled to see local enterprises taking a keener interest in environmental matters. She added that her local retail outlet would soon be doing away with plastic bags and already some small outlets were using bags that were friendly to the environment.

In all these projects, the Rye Chamber of Commerce has been aided by grants from bodies such as the Education for Cardboard Recycling and Ecosys Environmental Management.