Pret a Manger is set to launch a trial to sell reusable glass bottles for water at its three Veggie Pret shops in the UK.
The UK-based international sandwich shop chain will urge its customers to fill up their bottles using new filtered water stations at the shops.
The service will be extended to its shops across Manchester by the end of this month.
Pret a Manger CEO Clive Schlee revealed the plans of the sandwich shop chain through the company blog.
Customers at the select Pret shops have the option to buy two sizes of reusable glass bottles. They also will have the choice to buy regular water bottles.
The experiment will be done to assess if customers prefer to refill a bottle or go on to buy a new plastic bottle.
Schlee wrote: “Plastic bottles are a problem. We all feel it even before we hear the shocking statistics about millions of tonnes ending up in our oceans each year and imagine the devastating impact this has on marine wildlife.
“Pret has always tried to lead on food waste – we’ve been donating our unsold food to the homeless every night since our first shop opened more than 30 years ago.”
The sandwich company is trying to tackle the problem of packaging waste according to its CEO. This is being done by cutting down on where it can and make more of it recyclable.
Pret a Manger is also looking to come up with an idea to address the fiendish coffee cup problem, revealed Schlee. As of now, the company is facing a real challenge in the form of plastic bottles whether to stop selling them or encourage customers to use lesser plastic bottles through the newly launched trial of having recycled ones.
