MEENIYAN IGA was needing some upgrades recently and owner Kaelene Shervell chose to go with environmentally friendly, sustainable solutions.
With open fridges that proved to be uneconomical, that also dropped the temperature of the store to frigid, Kaelene had been wanting to change them for a while.
When an incentive from the government came along in the form of a rebate to change to sustainable energy use in the fridges and freezers, the IGA owner jumped at the opportunity.
“The business that I use for my fridge maintenance, they helped me put it all together and voila. It’s been awesome.
“They’re all up and running and just really present nicely – all the products – and the extra products because of the extra space we’ve been able to gain.”
The shop is also now noticeably warmer, which all the staff are grateful for.
“We’re taking off the extra layers that we were needing to wear. It’s been a remarkable difference. We noticed that the next day, when we opened the shop, how much warmer it was.”
The IGA also has new shopping trolleys, which Kaelene found from eco-plastic company, Super Cart, which designs them from recycled plastic.
The company upcycle the equivalent of 74 two-litre milk bottles for their mini trolley and 152 two-litre milk bottles for their mid trolley.
To date, they’ve upcycled the equivalent of more than 34 million two-litre milk bottles, that’s over 1.4 million kilograms of plastic.
“Their goal is just to reuse and that really appealed to me. I thought that was amazing that they’ve been able to work something out to reduce the plastic that we’re putting in our landfill.”
“Being such a little store, there are only 10 trolleys. But every little bit counts,” added Kaelene.
“The trolleys are just a lot lighter and easier to manoeuvre as well, which is nice for our elderly citizens.”
Kaelene expressed her gratitude to all her customers for their patience and support through the transition.
“It made it easier and took the stress off,” she said.
