Plastic Pledge Update - August 2020

Plastic Pledge Update - August 2020

As part of our ongoing commitment to reducing single-use plastics throughout our business, we set ourselves the following goals earlier this year:

Our 2020 Pledges

1. Reduce our single use plastic bag use by at least 75% for the period between now and 1st April 2021, compared with the same period the previous year
2. Completely eliminate the use of plastic-based tape on boxes we despatch before 1st September 2020
3. Zero recyclable plastic waste to go to landfill from any part of our operation by 1st April 2021 - every piece either gets re-used or recycled

August Update:

1. We are well on our way to hit our goal of cutting our single use plastic bag use by 75% by the end of our financial year, so far this year having purchased almost 90% fewer bags from our supplier than in the same period last year! We have achieved this primarily by replacing our older plastic sorting bags with new paper ones, as in the images below:

2. Earlier this year we began trialling a new paper-based tape for our parcels and we're pleased to confirm following this successful trial we will very soon be eliminating plastic-based tape on all of our outgoing parcels.

At present we are still using our old plastic logo tape (the white tape with our logo and contact details in green, brown or blue) to help our couriers identify our parcels and let them know how to contact us in the unlikely event one gets misplaced, however we'll very shortly be taking delivery of our brand new paper-based logo tape below, and we'll be able to completely eliminate plastic-based tape from all of our outgoing parcels.

3. We've increased our recycling capabilities at our Bishop Auckland Headquarters and have a big focus on re-using materials wherever possible, we're happy to say we're well on our way to achieving this Plastic Pledge goal!

As always we welcome any and all feedback about any of our packing materials and methods, if there's anything you'd like to let us know please don't hesitate to get in touch, [email protected]

Many thanks as always, Team HWOS