By GAVIN WATCHORN

On Saturday, we’re kicking off our third Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) Campaign at AML Foods Ltd’s grocery food outlets in New Providence and Freeport.

For the entire day, we’re encouraging customers to swap plastic bags for reusable grocery bags during their Saturday shopping. To help, our team will distribute free bags to shoppers, while supplies last.

It’s our way of recognising Earth Day, a global initiative to focus attention on the impact we have on our natural environment. Participating stores in Nassau include Solomon’s Super Centre, Solomon’s Fresh Market Old Fort Bay and Solomon’s Fresh Market Harbour Bay, and in Freeport, Solomon’s Queen’s Highway and Solomon’s Lucaya.

Swapping out plastic for reusable grocery bags might seem like an inconvenience in the short run but it only requires some planning on the front-end of your shopping experience.

The use of plastic bags has an adverse affect on the environment as well as our health. For the past two years Solomon’s Fresh Market and Solomon’s have promoted a BYOB Campaign, as each reusable bag that is used has the potential to eliminate an average of 1,000 plastic bags over its lifetime.

Last year on Earth Day, we donated 20,000 re-usable bags at our stores in Nassau and Freeport. For 2017 our goal is to distribute 30,000 bags to customers.

This goal is within reach thanks to our own donation of 10,000 bags, and donations from our partners at The Tribune and Radio House, Aliv, RBC, Coca-Cola, Scotiabank as well as our international food vendors like Organic Valley and Miracle Noodle.

Trading plastic for the more eco-friendly alternative helps to preserve the natural beauty of the Bahamas. We believe that this small act could eliminate some two million plastic bags annually from local circulation. As a company, we are committed to enhancing the communities that we serve and this project is no different. Every day, in all of our retail outlets, we use biodegradable plastic bags as a way to reduce our impact on the fragile ecosystem. The BYOB Campaign takes it a step further as we seek to have plastic-free zones in all of our grocery operations.

By our own calculations, if each of our retail customer brings two reusable bags per week on shopping trips, that would cut down their weekly bag use by four to five plastic bags. For customers wanting to purchase additional reusable bags, they are available in stores. Part proceeds from the sale of all reusable bags go directly to the Bahamas National Trust.

We hope that you will take the challenge this Saturday to swap plastic bags for a better alternative and for a chance to protect our natural environment.

• Gavin Watchorn is the President and CEO of AML Foods Ltd.