How to Transform Your Business into an Ocean-Friendly Workplace

Over the last few years, our fight against plastic has gained massive publicity and as a result, many of us have tried to reduce the plastic we use each day, whether that be ditching single-use supermarket bags or investing in a reusable coffee cup. While we make great headway reducing the plastic in our homes, many of us forget to tackle all the waste we create at work, despite this being a significant contribution to our plastic problem. Often we hear of the enormous impact industries have on the environment and feel that we cannot do anything to alleviate the problem, however almost all of us work within a business which could do more to help protect the planet. By shifting first our own actions, then our colleagues’ actions and finally our whole workplaces’ actions, we can take dramatic steps towards a greener future. With the recent Coronavirus lockdown shifting the way many businesses and individuals work, now is a great time to take that transformation one little step further and make your workplace ocean-friendly.

You can start small by tackling your own plastic use at work. Maybe instead of rushing into the coffee shop each morning and grabbing a takeaway plastic cup, you could start using a long- lasting bamboo alternative instead. Similarly, why not ditch the expensive bottled water and simply fill your own bottle at home before jumping on the bus. While many of us choose the quickest, easiest option on a weekday, all those plastic wrapped meal deals from the supermarket are contributing to enormous amounts of unrecyclable waste which could eventually wind up floating in our oceans or being shipped to less developed countries which then have to deal with the rubbish from your five minute lunch. Instead, you could rustle up your own lunches at home and place them in reusable Tupperware and beeswax wraps, or head to smaller bakeries which often wrap their goods in recyclable paper bags. You could even look for different tea, coffee and snack brands which wrap their goods in less packaging but still get you through the day just as well.

Once you’ve tackled your own plastic footprint, it’s time to encourage your work friends to do the same. Asking colleagues in various departments how they think they could reduce work waste is a great way to come up with a whole host of different ideas that would work across the company. From this giant brainstorm, you can identify which swaps might be the easiest to introduce and even which ones would save you money and make the business more efficient. For example, you may decide to overhaul your packaging by trading plastic bubble wrap and Styrofoam pieces for shredded cardboard. Maybe you’ll even look into some of the more inventive packaging alternatives such as seaweed, mushroom or potato starch options. Other simple ideas to get the ball rolling could be to include clear recycling bins within the workplace, encourage the use of metal water bottles by introducing water refill stations or provide reusable cutlery in the kitchen to stop plastic forks filling the bin. With someone really passionate leading this plastic purge, others at work are soon likely to be filled with enthusiasm and raid their desks to rid them of unnecessary waste. If your own passion isn’t enough to motivate a change, why not ask your boss to arrange a team building exercise focussed around a beach, river or park clean. Not only will this allow people to get to know each other better and for you to give something back to the environment but it is also likely to open people’s eyes to the scope of the problem we are facing. With your boss on your side, why not also talk to your suppliers and ask them if they would consider using less packaging and work on a plastic-free solution together. Most importantly, your business should measure the change in its plastic waste and costs throughout the sustainable transformation to help understand exactly what the benefits are of cutting back on plastic. If you save a considerable amount of money, the company might even reinvest this to help fund some of the more expensive eco-friendly strategies you have identified.

Many of you may be thinking that convincing your superiors to overhaul engrained business practices is nigh on impossible, however there are many benefits companies can receive from going green. Firstly, many of the changes you make can allow the business to save money on packaging and waste removal which helps make business operations more cost effective. Your company may even find that some of the new alternative methods or products work better than the plastic products they have been stuck using for decades. Just as importantly, becoming an eco-friendly business can help make your company a leader in its industry as they set the sustainable standard that all other competitors feel they should live up to. Increasingly, customers are valuing environmentally-friendly morals from businesses and so by cutting down on plastic, you can help meet constantly evolving consumer demands. As well as attracting customers, you can also attract a large number of potential employees who have our planet at heart, something Surfdome found to be true when they switched to more sustainable business practices. Finally, your business could even receive external recognition for all your efforts in the form of awards, press coverage or simply an old fashioned good reputation which can help the company meet a range of goals from sales to marketing to employee engagement. In the 21st century, being a green business does not mean sacrificing your business aims, instead sustainable pursuits allow you to compliment them by saving money, finding new efficient practices and building a positive brand image.

So, do you think you are ready to make your workplace that little bit more ocean-friendly? Amanda Keetley has written a fantastic book called ‘Plastic Game Changer’ which forms both an inspirational and practical guide for businesses. Using a five step plan, the book will guide businesses through understanding the plastic problem and seeing how they can play a part in the solution, identifying their current plastic use, setting appropriate targets and envisaging how they can generate creative waste cutting ideas from the workforce. Most easily at the end, it is important to share your progress on social media to help appeal to potential customers and share success stories with other businesses who have not yet taken that first step. There are also multiple plastic-free workshops, talks and consultancies popping up all over the world if you need that extra guidance to get you started and many big businesses have already got involved with these activities from the UK Network Rail to Bar Nation who organise many of the UK’s biggest festivals.

Still struggling for ideas for your business? Here are some great examples from those organisations who have already taken the plunge to become plastic-free. All the way back in 2015, clothing brand Surfdome switched almost all their packaging from plastic to recycled cardboard boxes which eliminated 9.7 tonnes of plastic in the first year! A further 2.2 tonnes of undegradable plastic waste was avoided by swapping to recycled paper void filling, packing out fragile items. They even managed to save one tonne of plastic just by switching to recyclable gum tape. Similarly, Iceland has launched their #toocoolforplastic campaign where their own label goods will become plastic-free within the next three years. Already they have saved 850 tonnes of plastic entering landfill by swapping unrecyclable black plastic for paper-based trays. Sky started small by removing all plastic water bottles from their business and giving all staff a reusable alternative which prevented 500,000 plastic bottles being tossed into the trash each year. At Marks and Spencer, a new scheme has been trialled where shoppers are encouraged to return plastic which is unrecyclable at the kerbside back into the store where it will be transformed into playground equipment rather than sent to our overcrowded landfills. Lastly, Mastercard is playing their part too by offering customers the option to own an eco-friendly payment card made from recycled ocean plastic. Normally, six billion plastic cards are produced each year around the world to replace those that are worn out but their new initiative is giving customers the choice to be more sustainable whilst many other organisations have already backed Mastercard’s new product.

As you can see, there is a whole range of methods you can introduce to cut plastic from your company, from the little changes to the large overhauls. Every business can make a difference to the planet, no matter how big or small they are as every action adds up to help make our oceans a healthy place. With turning green offering so many extra business opportunities today, there seems to be no better time to start taking on the plastic problem.

By Neve McCracken-Heywood