Co-op stores support Rochdale Foodbank

Rochdale Foodbank volunteers with the compostable Co-op carrier bags

Local Co-op stores at Cutgate and Rooley Moor Road have supported Rochdale Foodbank with donations of boxes of new compostable carrier bags.

The community retailer’s not-for-profit compostable bags will replace around 60m single-use plastic bags UK-wide and have a secondary use as food waste caddy liners. The bags can then be turned into peat-free compost along with the household food waste. The compostable carrier bags are also approved for home composting.

Bev Place, Member Pioneer for the Co-op in Rochdale said: "The foodbank is reliant on so many kind people and companies locally who donate food and goods and on their team of wonderful local volunteers that the Co-op were keen to offer their support too but in a practical way.

“Since the government charge was introduced on the sale of carrier bags, they are now far less accessible and potentially would present the foodbank with an unnecessary cost. The introduction of the Co-op's new environmentally-friendly, compostable carrier bags provided a perfect opportunity for us to make life for those accessing the foodbank a little bit easier.”

Rochdale Foodbank has helped thousands of local people who have found themselves in food poverty since its launch at St Mary in the Baum in July 2012.

It later moved onto South Parade where it still operates and requires approximately 1,400 carrier bags each month.