Sunday 28 February 2010

Merry Carrots Mr Lawrence

I mentioned before that some of the local shops are taking part in the 'nine carrots' scheme to help them invest in environmentally friendly improvements in their businesses.

The way it works is that you go in, make your purchase as normal, pay the normal price but you ask for a 'green receipt'. The business then puts a portion of that money towards improvements.

No one loses, but we're helping increase the investment in a low carbon economy. Little steps, but no less important for all that.

One of those local businesses is Mr Lawrence wine bar who've made a commitment to make their business more environmentally friendly, starting with their lighting.

Here I am holding my green receipt, smiling away due to the lovely coffee I'd just had. I should point out that this picture was taken last week and I'd just been snowed on in this picture, I've not been afflicted with a terrible case of dandruff despite how it looks!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nine carrots: whats that? Green receipts? Dont get it. What percentage of the green receipt gets used for the improvements?

In Forest Hill we use the "four candles" system as developed by Ron and Ron.

Jim Jepps said...

I don't know why the scheme is called nine carrots - that's just it's name as far as I'm concerned.

The investment is down to the commitment of the shop owner - the scheme recommends 10% of the sale price although obviously this would have to vary depending on the mark up on the item - whether our buying handles for your forks or ways of making a romantic meal that little bit more special.

(ps it's better if you sign with a name rather than stay anonymous, you can always just pop it at the end of the comment if you don't want to sign in)

bob said...

Sounds like a great idea. 9 carrots, presumably pun on 9 carat?

I'm curious to know more about Ron and Ron and their four candles!

Do you think our neighbourhood could manage anything like the Brixton Pound?

Jim Jepps said...

I love the idea of the Brixton Pound and I know quite a few people round here that would like to see us set up a similar system.

I guess my question is how it works in practice - ie how much work would it take to set it up and how much 'take up' would we get.

Certainly it would be one of those things that would help people feel proud of their area or perhaps more accurately giving people a way of demonstrating that pride in a more concrete way.

bob said...

Sounds like a project for the Transition Towns people - a fact-finding visit to Brixton!

Jonathan Melhuish said...

Thanks for blogging about 9carrots Jim, it's a really good description of how it works. How about a link to the 9carrots web site for completeness? :)

Just one minor update.. we have renamed them to "9carrots receipts" as some people were misunderstanding and thinking "green receipts" were just normal receipts printed on recycled paper! Oh dear.