Pret a Manger is considering options to reduce its use of plastic bottle use, with a pilot beginning at its Veggie Pret sites yesterday.
Writing on a blog titled ‘What if Pret stopped selling plastic water bottles?’, Pret chief executive Clive Schlee said customers at the three London Veggie Prets, and extending to its Manchester shops by the end of the month, would be encouraged to fill up their bottles for free using new filtered water stations.
These shops will also start selling two sizes of reusable glass bottles alongside regular water bottles.
Schlee said: “The aim is to understand if customers will choose to refill a bottle rather than buying a new plastic one.”
Schlee said Pret has always tried to lead on food waste, by donating unsold food to the homeless since its first shop opened more than 30 years ago, and more recently trying to reducing packaging and making more of it recyclable.
Explaining the group’s thinking on plastic bottles, he wrote: “Plastic bottles present a real challenge and there are two schools of thought within Pret. The passionate environmentalists say stop selling them altogether, while the pragmatists say make it as easy as you can for customers to use fewer plastic bottles. We are looking carefully at both options. I tend towards the pragmatist end myself.
He added: “The trial of reusable bottles and taps in our Veggie Pret and Manchester shops is just the start of Pret trying to do more when it comes to packaging. As always, I welcome your views on what we can do to make the most impact in this area.
“Have you or would you make the switch to a reusable bottle? Is there still a place for plastic bottles or can we do without them entirely?”
