Advice on how to implement new workplace practices to reduce single use plastics and help in protecting our oceans.
Drowning in plastic
With 24% of people rarely or never paying attention to the amount of disposable plastic they use and plastic pollution in the sea set to treble in the next decade it has never been more important to reduce our reliance on single use plastics.
There’s some worrying stats out there. Did you know that every year the U.K goes through 13 billion plastic bottles? Or that 1/3rd of all plastic waste in our oceans comprises of single use plastic bottles? Pretty daunting but through adopting new practices we really can make a difference. An example of such can be seen in the 30% decrease in the number of plastic bags trawled from the U.K’s seabeds. This decrease correlates with the introduction of the 5p plastic bag levy, highlighting that we really can change things for the better.
We’re aware that it can be difficult to change individual recycling practices, and that it’s even more challenging to change that of your colleagues. So, as part of World Oceans Day and the Pass On Plastic campaign we’ve implemented new work place practices ourselves and collated some advice to inspire other workplaces to join us in reducing their single use plastic waste.
Educate!
The first step in any change is ensuring others know what you’re doing and why. Without this it will be difficult to implement any change on a larger scale. Both current and new employees need to be made aware of the reasoning behind changes made and what they need to do to play their part. The Waste and Resources Action Programme recommend giving employees a concise summary of the plan and utilising things such as meetings, intranet boards, newsletters and posters etc to cascade this information.
Here at Brandelity we held a team meeting to inform all our staff of the upcoming changes and provided them all with their very own Pass On Plastic Pack. The packs feature a reusable coffee cup, reusable water bottle and a 8oz cotton bag and helped to kick start our drive to reduce plastic waste.
Keep it convenient
In a 2016 study convenience was identified as the leading factor people want when it comes to recycling. So when it comes to planning greener practices in the workplace convenience must be considered. The easier a new practice is to adopt the more favourable it’ll be amongst colleagues.
We identified disposable drinking cups to be our biggest culprit of single use plastics in the office and we made the decision to stop ordering these and replaced them with our own reusable ones to combat this. By taking this simple action the whole team were able to significantly reduce the the amount of plastic waste our office created in one simple step.
Promote progress
Following launch it is important to remind people of any progress made so that they can see that their actions are making a difference. Updates can be shared using the same outlets used to educate employees in step one.Here at Brandelity we used infographics to provide a simple and visually pleasing update on progress made but other visual techniques such as charts and graphs can also be used. To help others get inspired we’ve also created a really useful infographic that can be used to highlight the need to Pass On Plastic, view it here.
Get your own Pass On Plastic Packs
If you’re looking to join us in reducing the amount of single use plastic waste your workplace generates then why not look at getting your own branded Pass On Plastic pack? They make great gifts for employees and really help in reducing waste. For a free quote, or for any product enquires, contact us today by calling +44 (0) 1753 491470 or emailing: UKsales@brandelity.com
Click on an product below to find out more about each element of our Pass On Plastic Packs
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