A TULLIBODY butcher has used the Scottish Government’s carrier bag charge to raise money for Strathcarron Hospice.

Jim Hutchison aimed to turn the negativity surrounding the 5p charge into something good for the community and opted to donate the proceeds for all bags to a local charity.

After just six months of the charge being in force, the butcher raised around £100 after selling over 2000 bags.

Jim said the move was inspired by a dedication to the community and to making sure the business was not ill-affected by the government tariff.

He said: “When the 5p charge came in I decided that instead of retaining the money we would donate the money from the bags to Strathcarron Hospice.

“We put a sign up and as soon as the customers realised we were doing that, I think most of them were quite happy to pay the 5p.

“It also relieved some pressure from staff as I was thinking a lot of customers would see us using the charge to up profits or anything.

“Retailers are all entitled to keep the money from the bags but we just thought this would be a better way to do it.” He added: “We have a community to serve here and we want to do that in more than one way.

“Also a number of staff her have lost someone through cancer so we felt that would be the ideal charity to help.

“I am hoping to keep doing this for Strathcarron so the profits from all the bags we sell each year will go to them.

“The numbers of bags being sold has actually gone down recently, as people begin taking their bags with them, but we hope that when they see our donation they might opt for the bag instead.” Jim Hutchison & Sons handed over the £100 cheque to Strathcarron Hospice fundraiser Jim Brown (see above) during a brief presentation outside the Tron Court premises.