Winslow Shop divides opinion with plastic bag display

A little charity shop in a little town in Buckinghamshire made a big statement on the issue of plastic waste in January. And, love it or hate it, everyone was talking about it. Instead of a beautiful display of lovely things for sale, Florence Nightingale Hospice Shop Manager Sybil-Jane Edgar decided to fill the Shop’s window with all the plastic bags that came with donations, and a hand-drawn picture of a dead whale. It was not your usual charity shop window, that’s for sure!

Instead of a beautiful display of lovely things for sale, Florence Nightingale Hospice Shop Manager Sybil-Jane Edgar decided to fill the Shop’s window with all the plastic bags that came with donations, and a hand-drawn picture of a dead whale. It was not your usual charity shop window, that’s for sure! It met with mixed reactions, as some called it an eyesore and a waste of charity sales space. However, the majority of passers-by and customers praised Sybil Jane’s creative approach to telling the town that the Shop is trying to go plastic-free in 2020.

Sybil-Jane said, “This means we will stop using kimble tags, the pricing guns, sellotape, cellophane, curling ribbon etc. This is changing everything we do operationally, and is actually incredibly difficult to do while still running an effective retail outlet.”

“The idea behind putting all of our donated plastic bags in the window was to highlight the excess plastic in even our small community and why it is so important to try and go plastic-free,” says Sybil-Jane.