Selfridges to remove all single-use plastic carbonated drinks

The world-renowned department store Selfridges is to ditch single-use plastic carbonated drinks from all of its stores.

The move forms part of its support for the Zoological Society of London (ZSL)’s One Less campaign to reduce London’s contribution to plastic waste.

Alannah Weston, Deputy Chairman of the Selfridges Group, said: “Our customers expect us to be responsible and our values underpin this requirement. We have supported the #OneLess campaign from 2016 which, as a result, has seen the Mayor promise to improve access to drinking water across London”.

The retailer has a strong sustainability reputation and has sought to remove plastic from its operations for the past few years. In 2015, it removed all plastic carrier bags from its stores and plastic bottles from its restaurants. The following year it stopped selling beauty products containing microbeads, two years before the UK government initiated its own ban.

“We are seeing a huge shift in people’s attitudes to single-use plastic water bottles, and now, carbonated drinks. As a city, we still have a long way to go but we can encourage environmentally conscious behaviour from individuals, to manufacturers, and retailers,” she added.

There are currently four Selfridge stores; aside from its flagship site on London’s Oxford Street, open since 1909, the chain also extends to Manchester and Birmingham.

“This is a great move by Selfridges" said John Sauven, Executive Director of Greenpeace UK.

 “One of the world's best-known retailers is sending a clear message to major drinks manufacturers that they need to reduce their use of plastic bottles. Selfridges has been highlighting marine conservation issues for nearly a decade. It is continuing to confront the crisis in our oceans by dealing with the problem of plastics at its source – banning the single-use plastic drinks bottles produced by carbonated soft drinks companies”.