Plastics reduction
Plastics pollution is having a significant and devastating impact across the globe on our oceans and rivers, wildlife and the human the food chain. The recent increase in awareness of these issues has culminated in a widespread call to action – from the United Nations, NGOs and charities, UK Government and our own people.
How we responded
We’ve adopted an ambitious strategy to radically reduce single-use plastic consumables across our UK offices.
Through engaging stakeholders at every level, building a powerful, sustained communications campaign and fostering highly collaborative partnerships with our supply chain partners we’ve taken direct, positive, meaningful action and achieved impressive results – inspiring others across our global network to follow too.
We’ve eliminated plastic consumables and switched to reusables or sustainably sourced alternatives wherever possible. This approach has so far enabled us to cut single-use plastics in our workplaces by over 91%, including:
- Over 6.5mn disposable cups replaced with reusable cups and bottles
- Approximately 1.2mn catering items (cutlery, food packaging etc.) switched to biodegradables
- More than 60,000 plastic bottles in vending machines switched to cans
- Over 47,000 branded carrier bags eliminated
- Installation of ‘reverse vending’ machines in restaurants and coffee shops to encourage recycling of plastic bottles and drinks cans
We’re now looking to find solutions for all remaining single-use plastic items, continually evaluating new plastic-free products and process innovations coming to market for potential use in our workplaces
Recognition
We’re proud to have been recognised by a number of prestigious organisations for our approach to single-use plastics reduction.
