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Tag: Recycling

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Make Every Day Earth Day: 10 Ways to Reduce your Personal Plastic Consumption for a Sustainable Future

Earth Day Logo and Planet vs. Plastics overlaid on Graphic Art of the Earth and Waste Plastics

This year, the theme of Earth Day is Planet vs. Plastic, so we want to share 10 ways to cut down your plastic usage for a more sustainable future. 

In 2020, the world produced over 500 million tonnes of plastic, a staggering 900% increase from 1980, showing the urgent need to reduce plastic usage and embrace practices that lead us closer to achieving net zero carbon footprint. Our seas and oceans, now home to approximately eight million tons of plastic waste annually, paint a grim picture of pollution, urging us to mark every day as Earth Day through concerted action to reduce, reuse, and ensure a sustainable future. 

At Jump, we help people to make simple changes and incentivise sustainable behaviour. By focusing on reducing personal plastic consumption rather than just recycling, we empower individuals and organizations to take meaningful steps towards minimizing their carbon footprint. At Jump, we’re on a mission to empower and motivate people for a sustainable future. Join us in championing sustainability by adopting and promoting these 10 simple actions for to live a life of less plastic 

Ditch fast fashion 

Approximately 69% of clothing is manufactured from plastic-based materials like polyester and nylon, which are not only prone to quick wear and tear but also lead to substantial waste. When discarded, these garments release microplastics and toxic chemicals such as PFAS into our environment, contaminating air, water, and soil. 

By shifting towards sustainable fashion brands and embracing the slow fashion movement, consumers can reduce their environmental impact. Opting for garments made from natural or recycled materials not only supports ecological balance but also promotes fair labour practices and reduces carbon emissions. 

Wash your clothes less frequently and on cold 

Each laundry cycle releases hundreds of thousands of microfibers into the wastewater, primarily from synthetic textiles like polyester. By choosing to wash less often and only when necessary, opting for cold water, and washing full loads during washing can further minimize the release of these tiny plastic particles. 

Innovative solutions such as installing microfiber filters in washing machines have shown promise in capturing these fibres before they enter the water systems. Products like the PlanetCare filter are independently proven to stop up to 90% of microfibers from reaching the oceans. 

Ditch the wet wipes 

Disposable wet wipes, often made from non-biodegradable materials like polyester and polypropylene, contribute significantly to landfill waste and water pollution, with over 300,000 sewer blockages annually due to improper disposal. 

For everyday cleaning and hygiene, reusable cloths offer a sustainable alternative. They can be washed and reused multiple times, reducing waste and saving money in the long run. 

Buy packaging-free groceries 

By opting for bulk purchases, consumers can significantly cut down on the amount of packaging waste, which is a major contributor to landfill accumulation. 

Furthermore, shopping at zero waste stores enhances this experience by offering products that are fresh, organic, and free from excessive packaging. These stores typically provide a wide range of unprocessed whole foods and other household items, which also aids personal health by reducing exposure to harmful chemicals. 

Shop seasonal and local 

By choosing to buy from local farmers and markets, you support community-based agriculture and reduce the environmental impact associated with long-distance food transportation. Locally sourced and seasonal foods also require less transportation, refrigeration, and storage, conserving energy and reducing carbon footprint. 

Seasonal foods are fresher and packed with more nutrients compared to those that have travelled long distances and have been stored for long periods. They also promote soil health through crop rotation and reduce the need for chemical fertilizers, further contributing to environmental health. 

Use a refillable water bottle 

Opting for a refillable water bottle is a simple yet profound step towards sustainability. By making this switch, individuals can significantly reduce their carbon footprint and contribute to the solution against plastic pollution. 

Using a stainless-steel water bottle, which can last a lifetime with proper care, can save people approximately $1,236 annually, while also preventing around 156 plastic bottles from entering our oceans each year. 

Volunteer for a litter pick 

Volunteering for litter picking initiatives, such as the Great British Spring Clean, plays a crucial role in environmental conservation by directly removing waste from natural habitats and urban areas. By participating in these activities, volunteers make a tangible impact, with past events seeing hundreds of thousands of volunteers removing significant amounts of rubbish nationwide. 

Organized events like these also serve as powerful educational tools. They highlight the severity of plastic pollution and inspire participants to adopt more sustainable habits, such as reducing single-use plastics in their daily lives. It also provides invaluable data about the amount of waste in the environment – data which can be used to affect corporate and government policy. 

Educate yourself 

Educating oneself about reducing plastic use is pivotal in fostering sustainable behaviours. Platforms like Everyday Green and Plastic Free July offer a wealth of resources and engage communities globally to minimize plastic waste. 

Moreover, educational initiatives by NOAA and other organizations like the Surfrider Foundation and Plastic Pollution Coalition enrich understanding through detailed programmes and materials focused on marine debris and plastic pollution. 

Jump motivates sustainable practices, as seen with clients like Bournemouth University and the University of Reading, who have made notable strides in reducing plastic waste. Engaging in Jump programmes not only educates but also empowers communities, aligning with Jump’s mission to drive significant environmental change. 

Educate your people 

At Jump, we emphasize the transformative power of knowledge in driving behavioural change. By integrating environmental education into your organization, you can significantly amplify the impact of sustainability initiatives. 

Organize regular awareness campaigns and workshops that highlight the staggering facts about plastic pollution, such as the millions of plastic bottles purchased every minute worldwide. These sessions can include interactive activities like litter collection days or plastic use audits that make the data relatable and actionable. 

Encourage departments to keep detailed records of their initiatives and outcomes. This not only helps in maintaining momentum but also in celebrating the wins, however small, which can significantly boost morale and commitment to the cause. 

Sign up for a Jump programme 

Last but not least, the best way to reduce plastic consumption for yourself and your organisation is to invest in a Jump programme for your organisation. Our programmes are designed to educate and incentivize employees, encouraging them to adopt more sustainable practices both in and out of the workplace. 

Join our webinar 

This week, we are hosting a webinar all about educating and engaging your people with sustainability. Guest speaker, Simon Goldsmith, will discuss University of Greenwich’s sustainability strategy, and our very own Katie Rees will be on-hand to give 5 tips for engaging people with sustainability. Sign up here or via the pop-up in the corner of this page. 

Book a call 

Speak with our team to find out how Jump can help you to educate your people about the impact their everyday actions make and incentivise them to take action for a sustainable future. 

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Tis the season, to be sustainable

We’re now well into December, which means it’s your last chance to make 2018 as environmentally friendly as possible. With the Christmas festivities coming up, we don’t want your sustainable actions so far to go to waste. From vast amounts of food waste and excessive packaging to draining Christmas tree lights, there’s a true cost to our festive luxuries. But it doesn’t have to be that way! We’ve put together our top tips so that you can make a difference this year.

Sustainable Christmas tips

• Make your own cards (or go electronic!), wrapping and gifts. Get creative and get upcycling! 

• Recycling alert – look out for non-glossy papers without glitter or embellishment if you want them to be recycled or, better still, get creative and get reusing! Opt for brown paper and string, scraps of fabric, newspaper, magazine pages or reusable gift bags! Get some inspiration here.

• Gift experiences rather than objects and support local green businesses

• Christmas trees – did you know that real ones are more sustainable than artificial? Source your tree sustainably and recycle it so that it doesn’t end up in landfill.

• Keep your body moving, get into the fresh air and enjoy nature. Your wellbeing matters!

• Grub – go local, go veggie, ditch the packaging and use your leftovers. 

• Switch off before you head off! Do a sweep of your office to make sure that all computers & monitors, lights and equipment are turned off, and windows are shut. Take a look at some more energy saving ideas for your Christmas shutdown. 

• Give back to the community – donate, volunteer or give someone a helping hand this Christmas. And remember, you don’t have to go overboard. Buy less, eat less and waste less! 

Have a very merry (and sustainable) Christmas and a happy New Year! If you’d like to see how we’ve helped our clients engage their people this year, then check out our case studies.

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Drowning in packaging and we want change!

A recent survey into attitudes towards packaging shows that there’s a growing demand to reduce plastic packaging. Over 7,000 people from different European countries, including the UK, France, and Spain took part. The results show an insight into our views on sustainable packaging, recycling, and other green related policies. 

The results show that the majority of British consumers want more information about the sustainability of packaging, with 9 in 10 wanting all packaging to be recyclable. 68% of UK shoppers said that their purchasing choices are influenced by packaging, with more people opting for cardboard over plastic packaging for the same product. These are significant results, and stats like these should urge companies to change their packaging in order to reduce their impact on the environment. 

How can we help this packaging problem?

Firstly, we can all cut out unnecessary packaging from the get-go by choosing products with little or no packaging. For example, choose loose fruit and vegetables rather than pre-packaged.  Zero waste shops encourage you to fill your own containers and jars with unpackaged goods, from loose tea leaves, to pulses and grains, and even washing detergents and toiletries. Check out these great independent zero waste shops in the UK!

Realistically, it’s difficult to avoid packaging altogether. Reusing the packaging you do buy is a great way to give it a second (or third!) life. Try reusing boxes, wrapping, containers, bags and packets for something useful. Why not try using your finished margarine tubs for lunch boxes? Or make your old jam jars into pretty tea lights? For some reuse inspiration, check out these great ideas on repurposing food packaging. 

And finally, when you’ve avoided excess packaging, and you’ve reused all you can, be sure to recycle packaging correctly, check the label and check your council’s waste and recycling information. Here at Jump, recycling is a big deal, and our schemes for local authorities reflect this.

We encourage residents to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as they can, and reward them for doing so. Whether we reduce plastic packaging, reuse and upcycle old packaging or keep up the recycling, the choice is ours. We can all keep up these small steps that contribute to a bigger positive impact. 

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Have an eco-friendly Halloween!

We’re speeding through October, and Halloween is just around the corner. Get your pumpkins carved, your costumes sorted, and your sweet treats ready. Here we have a few tips on how to be conscious about your waste this Halloween.

Get creative with your costumes

Dressing up on Halloween can be great fun for all ages, and now is the time to get your creative hats on and think about your outfits. Whether you’re dressing up as a pirate, ghost, or even your favourite super hero, there are many ways you can make your Halloween eco-friendly. Reusing old costumes and swapping them between friends is a great way to avoid buying a new outfit each year. To take it one step further, why not try making your costume from things you already have around the house? From using the fabric of old clothes and rags, to creating props from your waste cardboard, there are many ways to give your waste a second life, Halloween style! For some spooky inspiration, view these great upcycling ideas here! 

Trick or treat?

Sweet treats are customary with trick or treating. If you are planning on giving out sweet treats this Halloween, why don’t you consider going plastic free? Rather than giving out sweets that are individually wrapped, opt for sweets that have less packaging, or even better, none at all! Keep your neighbours healthy and give out fruit as a healthy alternative – better for you and naturally wrapped by nature, win-win! 

Compost your carved pumpkins

Carving pumpkins is a Halloween must. Halloween is unfortunately known as The Festival of Food Waste. It is estimated that in the UK up to four million pumpkins are carved and displayed for Halloween. The edible flesh is usually discarded, ending up in landfill. According to the environmental charity Hubbub, pumpkin waste at Halloween equates to 360 million portions of pumpkin pie!  So once the fun is over and your pumpkins are looking a bit sad, make the most of them and compost them. Be sure to remove all candles and decorations before putting your pumpkins in your garden waste. For those with your own composting facilities, simply pop the pumpkins into your composting bin and reap the rewards of a nutrient rich soil for your garden! For more information about composting, click here. 

Happy Halloween!  

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We can all make a difference.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a critical report earlier this month expressing serious concerns for the future of our planet as we know it. The world’s leading climate scientists warned that urgent and unprecedented changes are needed to limit climate change catastrophe. They even stated that we have just 12 years to keep global warming at a maximum of 1.5C above current temperatures. Beyond this ‘tipping point’, irreversible and disastrous effects would runaway including widespread drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty. Clearly, this is worrying stuff. 

As well as urging governments to make more radical decisions, these alarming warnings have sparked much debate on what should be done. How can we rapidly cut carbon emissions to halt reaching such tipping points? A multifaceted approach is essential, involving a rapid transition to renewable energy and various adaptive technologies such as carbon capture and storage. The report also highlights the role individuals can play – that we really can make a difference. If everyone made a few personal changes to their behaviour, the cumulative impact could be significant. Eating less meat, insulating our homes, switching to renewable energy, walking or cycling instead of driving as well as reducing, reusing, and recycling are key actions individuals can take to play their part in sustainability. 

In our Jump employee engagement programmes, we encourage staff to participate in as many sustainable actions as possible, to reduce their own environmental impact as well as helping to reduce their organisation’s impact. Programmes and activities are bespoke to each workplace, but we’ve come up with a list of top actions we can all take to make a difference;  

Have you done any of them yet? Tweet us on @teamjumpUK to let us know what positive changes you’ve made.  

Together, we can make a difference! To find out more about how our behaviour change programmes drive positive change through individual action, please get in touch on [email protected], or call us on 020 7326 5055.  

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Recycle Week is back for 2018!

Recycle Week’s annual campaign, organised by WRAP, will be running from Monday 24th September to Sunday 30th September. This year marks the campaign’s 15th year, and is set to be one to remember. Themed ‘Recycling. We do. Because it matters’, the campaign will be focusing on plastics, aiming to highlight the benefits of recycling and encourage people to recycle more. WRAP is calling on all organisations, businesses and individuals to get involved during the week. It’s a perfect opportunity for all our Jump members to get on board and ramp up their office recycling!Take a look at the Recycle Week video and get inspired! 

Why should you recycle?Recycling is vital if we want to protect our environment for future generations to enjoy. Landfill is not a sustainable option for our waste disposal – it releases harmful chemicals into the environment, takes up a huge amount of space and wastes valuable resources. Recycling ensures that less waste is sent to landfill, and makes the most of materials that would otherwise be wasted. There are small positive steps we can all take to increase the amount we recycle, and Recycle Week is definitely the week for it!  

Why are plastics such a problem?Plastic pollution has been a hot topic in recent months, with thanks to programmes such as BBC’s recent Blue Planet II series which brought our attention to plastic waste in our oceans. Although plastic is a useful material in terms of its durability and diverse applications, it’s inability to break down is leading to huge problems for our natural environment. Did you know that it takes 20 years for a plastic bag to biodegrade, 200 years for plastic straws, and 450 years for plastic bottles? Click here to be shocked with more facts about plastic pollution. Recently we have seen a huge push for people to cut down on their plastic use by reusing items, and recycling wherever possible. Thanks to programmes like Blue Planet II, people are more motivated than ever to do something about their waste. 

As part of our Jump staff engagement programmes, we make recycling worth it for our members as well as the environment. Our behavioural change campaigns encourage staff to recycle more, and motivate members to do so through rewarding their efforts with Green Points and prizes for the top earners. During Recycle Week, staff at Bournemouth University can win an extra 100 Green Points for watching the Recycle Week campaign video. Whether it’s encouraging recycling, reducing plastic use, or swapping to reusable coffee cups, we are totally behind the small steps that can lead to a bigger positive impact.  We’ll be sharing our top tips and updates throughout Recycle Week, so follow us on our Twitter page. Happy recycling! 

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How did your #ZeroWasteWeek go?

Over the last year, we’ve seen a shift in the news to a focus on waste, and rightly so. Our overconsumption of resources and throwaway culture has led us into a crisis – one that’s made of coffee cups, plastic bags and straws!

Plastic is a worsening environmental problem due to the material’s inability to decompose and its ever increasing presence in marine ecosystems. It’s poisoning our oceans, food and water supplies, and causing devastating impacts on wildlife as well as human wellbeing. We’re sure you’ve heard some shocking facts about plastic pollution, but did you know that nearly two million single-use plastic bags are distributed worldwide every minute?  

To raise awareness and encourage householders to minimise their waste, we saw last week’s international online campaign Zero Waste Week take off. With a global reach of 56 million, the annual grassroots campaign encouraged the public to sign up and make a pledge to waste less.  

Over 80 local authorities got involved and as part of our waste minimisation and recycling reward schemes, we too encouraged residents to participate in the campaign’s zero waste mission. Our members earn Green Points for reducing the amount they throw away and increasing their recycling, as well as participating in waste-related activities. Our reward schemes are also a great way to support council-led initiatives, like Hackney Council’s own Zero Waste Challenge. 

We hope you got involved and promoted the zero waste message – but don’t worry if you missed it – it’s never too late to make those positive waste reducing actions.  One of the easiest things you can do to is to simply avoid single use items or to replace them with sustainable options such as paper straws, reusable coffee cups and reusable water bottles. Shopping in supermarkets makes it pretty much impossible to be waste free, when every single product (even loose fruit and veg!) is wrapped in plastic. To avoid food packaging altogether, as well as supporting local businesses, why not try buying your groceries at one of the UK’s best zero waste stores?  

 And keep your eyes peeled for Carlsberg’s new ‘Snap Pack’ design where the cans are simply glued together – no more turtles stuck in plastic rings please! We all know we are throwing away far too much, it’s time to do something about it! If you would like to hear more about how our Local Green Points reward schemes encourage waste minimisation, please get in touch at [email protected]

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What the hot weather means for your garden and why you should start recycling it again.

After a baking hot few weeks, London’s green spaces haven’t been looking so green. With low levels of rainfall and the longest summer heatwave since 1976, gardens are looking scorched!

Garden waste volumes have decreased following the dry spell and we’ve heard from our local authority partners how tough the last few weeks have been for garden waste recycling. As the weather gets back to normal and your garden springs back into life, we want to remind you to recycle your garden waste by home composting or using a local authority garden waste collection service. To find out what services are available to you, please contact your local council. 

To help the London Borough of Bexley reach their garden waste recycling targets, our Community and Outreach Team have been busy running a door to door engagement campaign in the borough. Our friendly door stepping team will be working hard for six weeks encouraging residents to sign up to the council’s garden waste collection service.  

The team are also spreading the word about London Green Points – Bexley, the scheme rewarding residents for recycling more. Residents earn Green Points depending on the amount being recycled from their community and can earn extra points for other waste minimisation activities. Winners are awarded with charity donations and vouchers! 

Our Slim Your Bin scheme in Warwickshire and Recycling Rewards scheme in St Helens also promote composting at home and reward residents for their actions. Composting is a great way to recycle garden waste, transforming bark, flowers, grass and hedge cuttings into free nutrient-rich food for your garden. Composting is especially beneficial during dry periods as it helps retain soil moisture, reducing the need to water your garden! Not only does it save spending in the local garden centre, composting decreases the amount of waste we send to landfill, making it an environmentally friendly option. Composting at home can save global warming gases equivalent to all the CO2  your kettle produces annually! 

For more information on our recycling engagement work for local authorities please get in touch at [email protected].  In the meantime, bring on the rain!

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Launch of behaviour change programme at the University of Bristol encouraging employees to be the change.

This summer we launched our latest employee engagement programme, known as ‘Be The Change’, to employees at the University of Bristol.

Bristol is well known for its dedication to being an environmentally friendly city and in 2015 was awarded European Green Capital status. It is exciting to see the education sector demonstrate the same commitment to sustainability, as the University of Bristol has already made impressive steps to minimise its environmental impact.    

Through the provision of the ‘Be the Change’ programme via our specialist online platform and web app we’re helping the University continue to achieve improvements to sustainability. The aim is to encourage employees to take part in activities which tackle plastics, reduce carbon use and boost wellbeing both at home and at work. To incentivise these actions, members are awarded ‘Green Points’ for every positive step they take. The members receiving the highest number of ‘Green Points’ are eligible to win vouchers for local and national retailers and donations for their favourite charities. This gamification creates ongoing momentum in environmentally friendly behaviours, embedding sustainability and wellbeing at the core of University culture. 

‘Be the Change’ launched as a pilot to test the appetite for behaviour change among colleagues, and just over a month from launch we’ve already seen 530 members sign up and over 7,000 sustainable actions reported. The University of Bristol is the 8th UK University to launch the programme, joining Reading University, Bournemouth University, the University of Strathclyde, Chichester University, Swansea University, Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Winchester. Following the success of our other University programmes we have high hope for the future of the Be The Change! 

For some further information on the success of our behaviour change programmes, please get in touch at [email protected].

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Where does your recycling really end up?

Yesterday, we heard concerns from the National Audit Office that a significant amount of items recycled in the UK could in fact end up in landfill abroad.“

Most people are unaware that most of our recycling goes abroad,” said Mary Creagh, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee of MPs. 

n the UK we do not have the infrastructure to handle all our recycling so some of it is distributed to other countries to be treated. This means some of our recycling could end up in landfill without us knowing, but does not take away from the fact that a lot of recycling is still processed correctly overseas.     

It is also important to highlight that a lot of the UK’s recycling is in fact processed in the UK and that you can find out, through your local council where your recycling really ends up. 

For example, in several London Boroughs, including Hackney, Camden and Waltham Forest, all recycling sacks are sorted and processed within London itself at Bywaters recycling facility. 

What’s more, the UK is making impressive strides in recycling, shown by continual increases in our recycling rates. Last year we achieved a 64% improvement rate surpassing the 55% target set by the EU.

There are also simple steps we can take to reduce our plastic waste and help this issue. With Plastic Free July in full swing, we are encouraging our members to avoid single-use plastics and re-use disposable items wherever possible. Check out our recent blog post for tips on how to achieve this. 

Through our Recycling Rewards schemes we reward residents for recycling and reusing, encouraging everyone to reduce their household waste. We aim to increase awareness around recycling, as well as motivate residents to recycle more, by using rewards, gamification, an innovative online platform, web app and communications campaign. 

In Camden, thanks to our Camden Recycling Rewards, residents in the London Borough of Camden are recycling 10% more of their household items than they did last year. For more information or to request a case study please get in touch at [email protected]. 

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Will you have a plastic-free July?

It’s summer and it’s definitely hot out there – which means lots of us will be sipping ice cold drinks through plastic straws, grabbing plastic bottles of cold water on the go and picking up disposable cutlery or items packaged in plastic for picnics outside. In other words, there are a lot of single use plastic items that have become routine to use, but that you can easily take steps to avoid. This month is Plastic Free July, a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of ending our reliance on plastics, which has millions of participants across more than 150 countries worldwide today. Keep reading to find out what you can do to avoid plastics this July.   

Why refuse plastics? Plastics do not ever fully biodegrade and as we’ve seen from documentaries such as Blue Planet II and media coverage of divers swimming in plastic polluted seas – this plastic is detrimental to our land and marine ecosystems. It is estimated that since its introduction, around 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced worldwide only 9% of the plastic ever produced has been recycled – with almost all of it still in existence today. 

What can you do? It can seem overwhelming at first, and difficult to know where to start (once you realise that plastic items are everywhere!), but there are a lot of small changes you can make to reduce your reliance on plastic. Here are our 5 most important tips: 

  1. Invest in a reusable bottle and carry it with you everywhere you go! A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute – don’t let yours be one of them.
  2. Use a reusable shopping bag – with plastic bags costing you 5p and costing the planet every time you use one, it’s a no brainer! So no to single use plastic bags when you shop.
  3. Use a reusable a coffee cup to avoid disposable coffee cups which have a plastic film lining which prevents them from being recycled. Most coffee retailers now offer a discount when you bring your reusable cup so you can save money and do your bit for the planet! Click here to see where you can get the best discounts.
  4. Buy loose fruit and veg and other food items – buying your food loose and not in packaging will avoid single use plastic wrappers and save you money on your food shop, as big bags of fruit and veg cost you money when they inevitably go off before you can use them. Buying less, outside of plastic packets it cheaper and better for the planet.
  5. Carry around Tupperware boxes and reusable cutlery, which will allow you to be waste free while you eat on the go! Single use takeaway items such as plastic cutlery and takeaway containers can’t be recycled, and so every time you use them you add more waste to landfill or to our marine and land ecosystems. 

Reward your staff for reducing plastic use 

Our Jump programmes reward employees for their positive environmentally sustainable actions, such as reducing their plastic use. By using gamification, team and individual prizes and an innovative online platform and web app, Jump successfully creates mass engagement in environmental and wellbeing issues. At Swansea University Jump has helped employees save over £9,000 by using reusable cups, with over 36,000 disposable cups avoided!

For more information or to request a case study get in touch at [email protected]

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World Environment Day: Let’s beat plastic pollution and clean up our oceans.

On the 5th June World Environment Day focused on bringing your people together to beat plastic pollution.

Being so cheap and easy to produce plastic is found everywhere in our day to day lives, from the packaging around our food to the tiny microbeads that are found in our clothes and released every time we put on a wash. 51 trillion pieces of plastic are currently polluting our sea and although it is hard to visualise such an immense quantity the impact this is having on our marine wildlife is clear.

Millions of sea creatures are harmed every year when they mistakenly consume our plastic waste and we can thank the BBC’s Blue Planet for bringing this fact to our attention. It is easy to feel helpless staring at our TV screens begging animals to stop eating plastic, so instead why don’t we take action?

Exciting steps have already been taken at a global level. India has set their goal of eliminating all single-use plastics by 2022, with many other countries following their lead, including the 50 which have committed to the UN’S Clean Seas campaign. However, our own daily choices are also important in creating the change. 

As part of our Jump Engagement Programmes we are asking employees to make pledges to reduce their plastic use. For example, pledging to only use their reusable coffee cups when buying their morning coffee fix, or using reusable water bottles instead of buying disposable plastic ones. 

Following a successful pilot at RBS in 2016, we saved 500,000 disposable coffee cups by encouraging reusable alternatives, and this continues to increase. We are also inviting our members to get creative by upcycling old plastic products to make something new. How about converting your old yoghurt pots into new seedling trays? 

By encouraging your people to make responsible choices when it comes to every day plastic use, we can generate big savings that help you towards your environmental targets. If you’d like to hear more about our Jump programmes, please get in touch at [email protected]. 

Bit by bit we aim to leave our throw-away culture behind us and clean up our oceans. As World Environment day taught us, if you can’t reuse it, refuse it! 

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Jump is a trading name of Green Rewards Limited. Registered company address: The Courtyard, Shoreham Road, Upper Beeding, Steyning, West Sussex, BN44 3TN

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