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Help highlight #PointlessPlastics and clean up our oceans!
Leading UK sustainability organisations launch campaign to reform pointless plastics
Groups to answer Chancellor Philip Hammond’s ‘call for evidence’ on how to tackle single-use plastics
Winner to receive a prize at the Global Good Awards ceremony in May 2018
The Global Good Awards in association with Green Gumption have launched a campaign to raise awareness and to help educate about the use of #PointlessPlastics.
#PointlessPlastics calls on everyone in the supply-chain, from consumers to retailers, to showcase either a poor use of plastic, excellent examples of positive change, or a solution to a plastics problem. Consumers are encouraged to highlight instances where plastics are completely pointless or could have easily been replaced with a more sustainable alternative, and to praise where change has been made to reduce or improve plastic use. It aims to put pressure on the whole supply chain, from manufacturer to consumer, to reduce instances of #PointlessPlastics.
To support the initiative Global Good Awards will be presenting solutions to plastic problems, through interviews with their community of sustainability partners. Something Chancellor Philip Hammond will be pleased to hear, given the announced consultation on a tax on single use plastics in yesterday’s budget.
To take part and support the campaign, simply tweet your pictures to @GlobalGoodAward using #PointlessPlastics. These will be showcased on a ‘hall of fame’ on the website, with a winner announced each week. An overall winner will be chosen by our award judges (Tweets before 19th March 2018), and they will be invited to the Global Good Awards Ceremony on 16 May 2018 and presented with a prize on stage.
Paula Owen, CEO of sustainability consultancy Green Gumption, who appeared on BBC News 24 to talk about the campaign launch, said:
“People need to become more aware when it comes to their indiscriminate use of single-use, pointless plastics. We all need to THINK before reaching for those plastic straws for our drinks, accepting a plastic bag in our local corner shop or choosing a shrink-wrapped cucumber or banana. Over 50% of all plastic produced is ‘single-use’ and is only used for a few minutes, before being discarded. If we’re lucky, into a recycling bin, but for over 90% of it, it will go to landfill or end up in our oceans, causing untold damage and distress to sea-life.”
You can watch her interview here.
Karen Sutton, CEO of Global Good Awards and co-founder of the campaign added:
“Initially the idea was to get people to tweet with their photos of badly packaged items, over-use of plastics or where they weren’t needed at all. However, there’s no point stopping there… otherwise we won’t discover all the different solutions that are out there to the problem, and also we won’t know where our manufacturers and retailers are in their journey towards a significantly reduced plastic supply chain.”
“This isn’t a name and shame exercise. We want to share best practice and create a learning platform for all. From retailers influencing their suppliers to small seed-funded organisations that have the solution already, we can all learn from each other!”
You can also read Karen’s blog about her vision for the campaign.
Headline sponsor of the Global Good Awards, Danny Doogan of Denmaur, who distribute award winning sustainable packaging, Delipac said:
“As the distributors of Revive, and other sustainable paper grades, we are obviously interested in innovation and products that take us a step closer towards the circular economy. We are currently working with our partners, Delipac, to introduce a purely paper based packaging grade that will fulfil the requirements of the current ‘disposable coffee cup’ and food packaging container. The fact that it doesn’t contain a polymer coating means that this product is recyclable– and it has compostable and biodegradable properties should it fall outside the conventional waste streams. We’re hoping this might be a very practical step in eradicating pointless plastics.”
The campaign launch comes just a week before the Global Good Awards open entries for their 2018 awards programme. They have several categories focusing on environmental impact, including for eco-products, behaviour change and sustainable supply chain. Entries close on 2nd Feb.
For more information about the campaign, visit www.globalgoodawards.co.uk/pointlessplastics
Editors Notes
About The Global Good Awards
The Global Good Awards has been running for four successful years as the National CSR Awards. 2018 will mark the first year of the new name. These inclusive awards celebrate organisations of all shapes and sizes that are making strides towards a better world for people, the planet and the global economy. Entries open on the 1st December 2017 and close 2nd February 2018. Find out more about our judges, values and venues here.
About Green Gumption
Green Gumption are an independent team of sustainability professionals and climate change experts. With combined decades of experience in the areas of: energy efficiency, climate change, carbon reduction, behavioural change initiatives, environmental advice and green marketing consultancy, they put together bespoke teams of professionals to tackle sustainability challenges in the workplace.
About Delipac
DELIPAC is a new award winning raw material. It is a paperboard having been conceived and developed over the past 7 years. A completely new, unique and innovative non-polymer barrier packaging board especially engineered for BOTH food & drink. Targeted at replacing and eliminating existing non-sustainable PE/ Polymer/film lined barrier packaging, whilst providing retailer branding impact and prestige.
It is a fully sustainable packaging concept in every way. Its `raison d’etre’ is to deal effectively with end of life packaging.
It is 100% recyclable:-
In ANY paper waste stream. NOT requiring specialised recycling processes.
It is 100% biodegradable:-
When discarded as unsightly street litter or ending in landfill, Delipac will FULLY degrade within 12 weeks.
It is 100% compostable:-
When composted, (home or industrially) it will FULLY decompose within 12 weeks.
Applications are vast and numerous, which of course include the major problem areas of convenience food, i.e. food-to-go packs, and especially coffee to go cups, as well as ice cream, bakery, confectionery etc.
For more information, or to arrange an interview with Karen Sutton or Paula Owen, please contact Harriet Kingaby on harriet@bora-co.com or 07547288236.
Join us at the 2018 GGA Ceremony: To celebrate excellence in social impact and sustainability (and sample our vegan wines!)
You don’t have to be an entrant to come along to the GGA ceremony! If you’re involved in social impact or sustainability, the GGA is the place to be! From our ‘eco-tie’ dress code, to our completely vegan menu, we aim to set the standard for sustainable events, and we want to share our learnings with you. Find out more about the 2018 ceremony, here>>
To book, DOWNLOAD THE BOOKING FORM, and email it to karen@GlobalGoodAwards.co.uk. Refund requests will be accepted until 27th April.
