The plastic pollution problem facing our oceans has been making waves in the media in recent years. Fuelled by documentaries like Blue Planet II and Drowning in Plastic, the public interest has given rise to great initiatives such as Sky’s Pass on Plastic campaign and charities like Surfers Against Sewage.
Despite there being more awareness of the dangerous levels of plastic pollution in our oceans, it will, unfortunately, take time for people to change their behaviours. Statistics show these changes can’t come soon enough. Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) report that, “every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic pollution find their way into our oceans.” That staggering number means we are still contributing to the “5.25 trillion macro and microplastic pieces floating in the open ocean.“ As well as being an eyesore on beautiful coastlines, the plastic pollution is having a devastating effect on our marine life. It’s estimated that “100,000 marine mammals and turtles and 1 million seabirds are killed by marine plastic pollution annually.”
At Brandelity we are being contacted by more and more companies who want to make positive changes themselves. They want to be part of the movement to pass on plastic, improve their CSR and encourage both their staff and their clients to be more environmentally aware too. Luckily, we’ve got a whole range of eco-friendly promotional merchandise that’s perfect for reducing plastic waste.
Top 5 Plastic Pollutants & Brandelity’s Reusable Alternatives
Here is a look at the top 5 plastic pollutants found in our oceans and the great reusable alternatives that Brandelity can offer. Each can be branded with your company logo and make for wonderful items of promotional merchandise for events, gifts for staff or items for retail.
1. Plastic Drinks Bottles & 2. Plastic Bottle Caps
Drinks bottles and bottle caps are a huge part of our plastic pollution problem. “A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute. 93% of these end up in landfill or our oceans.” Frustratingly, it’s a problem that many people can work to improve quite easily, and that’s by using a reusable drinks bottle. Since the average human should drink the equivalent of four plastic bottles per day, you’d be saving 1,460 plastic bottles per year by using a reusable bottle. More is being done to encourage this by businesses and governments too, with water refill stations being installed across the country. A big part of this has been the Refill movement, which has overseen more than 20,000 refill stations set up across almost 200 schemes throughout the UK.
Brandelity has a huge range of reusable drinks bottles which make for excellent merchandise when branded with your logo. Our most popular ranges are made from stainless steel and glass, which is further evidence of organisations seeking alternatives to plastic merchandise. Our best-seller is the Siena Water Bottle. We supply this bottle printed, engraved or featuring a full wrap print design, so it can be branded just the way you like it!
Find out more about our Siena Stainless Steel Water Bottle here.
3. Plastic Food Wrappers and Boxes
Another huge pollutant is plastic food wrappers, often found on sweet packets and used to keep meat and vegetables contained and fresh in supermarkets. Journalists have exposed that much of the plastic wrapping our food and household products come in is simply not recyclable.
Although this seems like a problem for big corporations, there are some changes that individuals and companies can make too and one of these is going back to the days of the trusty lunchbox. Lunchboxes eliminate the need for zip-lock bags and bringing your own food to work means your unlikely to be buying the food wrapped in the non-recyclable plastic from your local shops. It’s also good for the purse strings too!
Brandelity can source a range of lunch boxes made from materials such as metal and ceramics, but our most popular lunchbox of the moment is the Savanna Bamboo Lunch Box Set. It has multiple branding options available and comes with some handy reusable cutlery.
4. Plastic Grocery Bags
The government took huge strides to reduce the number of plastic bags being used in the UK when it introduced a law requiring all supermarkets and large stores to charge a minimum of 5p for every single-use plastic carrier bag they handed out. This will soon go up to 10p. A report published in July last year stated that “Plastic bag sales in ‘big seven’ supermarkets are down 86% since 5p charge came in”.
For the most part, plastic bags have been replaced by long lasting reusable bags such as the trusty cotton tote. This has led to it becoming one of the best selling promotional products on the market. It’s low cost, has a huge branding area, and it’s useful so will be kept and engaged with.
Our 5oz natural cotton tote bag can be branded with a full colour design that will be sure to see your brand stand out. In many cases, bags can be delivered within a week of artwork approval.
View our 5oz Cotton Tote & more on our Cotton Bags page.
5. Plastic Straws
Plastic straws have caught the attention of the public due to big companies like McDonalds switching to the paper alternatives. Although there has been a bit of a backlash, it seems plastic straws days are numbered with plastic straws, stirrers and cotton buds to be banned in England from spring 2020, with a similar law coming in across the EU from 2021.
Paper straws don’t have a long lifespan meaning not much brand awareness for your money. We like reusable, and so recommend our metal straws as your plastic alternative. Our metal straws can be engraved with your message and come in handy packs of 2 with a straw cleaner. Your logo can be printed on the outside of the bag so that everybody knows it’s your company that has handed out this environmentally-friendly gift, showing your commitment to the pass on plastic cause.
Want to go that extra step? Brand company Pass on Plastic Packs.
Have you been thinking about encouraging your workplace to go “plastic-free”?
More and more companies are looking to adopt a workplace free of single-use plastic in an attempt to improve their CSR and show both their staff and clients their environmental commitment. We think our Pass On Plastic Packs are perfect for this! Each pack contains a reusable tote bag, reusable drinks bottle and a reusable coffee cup. We can also add reusable straws and lunchboxes too!
Give each member of staff this pack of everyday plastic alternatives with your company branding. You’ll soon see disposable water bottles on desks and plastic shopping bags disappear. Plus, the extra brand awareness is great, as your staff will arrive to work with their Starbucks in your company branded coffee cups.
If you’d like to brand any of the items seem above or would like more information on how best to get your company to encourage others to pass on single-use plastic, please get in touch on 01753 491470 or send us an email with sales@brandelity.com
Share This Page
