Gretna Gateway is the first major shopping centre as you enter Scotland; with over 50 stores and restaurants and an annual footfall of over 2.3 million people. In the run up to the centre’s 20th anniversary next year, Gretna Gateway have been focusing on their place in the community and aiming to lead the way on environmental awareness within Dumfries and Galloway.
This year, Gretna Gateway have focused largely on sustainability and recycling with only 0.71% of all the centre’s waste going to refuse derived fuel. On site, waste is segregated between glass, cardboard, wood, metals, plastics and the latest incentives include recycling both cigarettes and chewing gum. There’s a visible presence of this, with bins made from 100% recycled materials and wall-mounted Gum Drops to encourage customer involvement.
Gretna Gateway have also brought in four bee-hives to aid pollination of local gardens and farms. The aim is to also include schools and young bee-keeping clubs with education programmes to encourage an enthusiasm for taking care of the local environment. There are also plans to install bird and bug boxes and plant wild flowers within the centre.
Gretna Gateway has a genuine desire to reduce the centre’s impact on the local community and have recently been announced as winners of a Green Apple Environment Award in an international campaign to find the greenest companies, councils and communities and will collect their award in November.
The future is Green for Gretna Gateway.
To find out more about what’s on in Gretna, visit www.gretnagateway.com
