The 3 Leaves private label brand owned by J. Calleja Import & Export Ltd wanted to contribute to plastic free July in a way that helps others reduce the usage of single use plastic bags. For this reason, the company has printed and is distributing thousands of cotton bags which shoppers can use instead of being given a plastic bag from the shop owners. These bags will mainly be distributed from small- to medium-sized shops due to their size.

J. Calleja Import & Export’s managing director Brian Calleja, said that he is aware that his own company is forced to use plastic for the packaging of imported goods. 

“This is imposed on us by the importers and we have no way to eliminate that. Notwithstanding, we felt that we wanted to contribute to counteract this fact. We hope these bags will be used as intended and will in turn reduce the end customers’ demands for plastic bags.”

Bags distributed from small- to medium-sized shops

He added that throughout their business operations, they strive to reuse and reduce not only the use of plastic but also that of carton boxes in which goods are delivered to the shops.

“From a marketing point of view, it would make sense for our goods to be transported in boxes bearing our company logo. However, in order to reduce waste, we reuse boxes bearing other company logos, even if they belong to our competitors, since in this way we make sure that the usage of carton boxes usage is extended, which results in less waste.”