We all know the damage plastic causes to the environment. It ends up in our oceans and on our shores reaching the even most remote parts of the world killing wildlife and endangering habitats along the way.
While many people and organisations are becoming more aware of the harm it causes, many continue to take such a harmful product for granted and continue to produce and use plastic items that can’t be recycled.
However, many companies are starting to take note and are making a conscious effort to reduce the amount of plastic they make.
20 Million Pieces of Plastic
In recent years, big organisations have updated their policies and made a promise to reduce their plastic consumption and the latest company to get on board is Tesco, the world’s third-largest grocery store chain.
Now we’re well into the Christmas period, supermarket shelves are stacked with millions of yule-tide products often packaged in single-use plastic. However, this year, Tesco has removed 20 million individual pieces of single-use plastic from its packaging and instead are using recycled packaging for Christmas lights, crackers, pudding, cards and more.
The always-proud-to-help-the-environment grocer, who embraced the five pence tax on bags, and places carbon footprint labeling on its products, adopts the “4R” motto when it comes to plastic: “Remove it where we can. Reduce where we can’t. Reuse more. Recycle what’s left”.
The British grocer entered into the holiday season with a different attitude, and surveys they conducted helped guide their decisions. They conducted a study that found 50% of people had started reusing Christmas decorations in a bid to reduce the amount of plastic they throw away. They also found that a third of their participants said they would only buy loose fruit and veg to reduce plastic packaging, and that a quarter will reuse wrapping paper.
A series of simple decisions, such as removing the plastic layer around a box of Christmas puddings, saved the use of 1.78 million pieces of plastic and removing the plastic packaging components of their own-brand crackers left their operations 14 million pieces of plastic lighter.
Making a Difference
We are happy to see that Tesco are continuing to make progress towards becoming plastic free and are doing their part to help protect the environment. We are all responsible for the planet we share and must all make a conscious effort to reduce the amount of plastic that enters the environment.
Global Office Supplies is on a mission to help companies go green. We can help you reduce your impact on the environment by supplying green office supplies, print management and recycling services.
