Independent businesses across the UK are rethinking their impact and removing avoidable, single-use plastic

We live in a world surrounded by plastic. It’s endemic to our way of life, and many people wouldn’t think twice about where that coffee cup to-go ends up.

Almost 50% of all plastic is single use plastic, and almost all single use plastic is unnecessary. Take one of the main offenders, plastic bags, and consider the amount of energy and resources used so that we can transport our shopping from the supermarket to your home and then be thrown away. As opposed to taking your own reusable bag every time.

And it gets worse. Only 9% of plastic gets recycled and 10 million tonnes of it ends up in our oceans every year. That plastic bag that was used for 20 minutes now has hundreds of years ahead of it washing around the ocean disrupting the environment and killing marine animals until eventually its broken down into micro plastics and finds its way back into our food.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Business owners globally have the power to positively impact plastic consumption. The premise behind the Plastic Free Business Champion award is to show that by making simple swaps and choices businesses can massively reduce single use plastic use and find easy and innovative ways to reuse plastic that’s unavoidable.

It starts with a hunt for plastic. You can’t fix what you can’t see, so it’s crucial that businesses take a close moment to assess their own practices and highlight where changes can be made. Of course, there’s the obvious offenders like plastic bottles, bags, and straws but often there’s a lot that goes unseen, like the plastic in teabags and printer cartridges, or the plastic that loo roll comes wrapped in.

Once you’ve found out where single use plastics are hiding it’s as easy as finding three swaps you can make to cut them out. It’s not about attaining perfection and boasting a completely plastic free business, it’s about making the changes that you can, and committing to plastic reduction where you can. Take refillable ink cartridges for example, yes, you’re still using plastic but now its not single use, and if every office in the world switched to printing like this, think of the millions of plastic cartridges we’d instantly prevent from being thrown away.

Once you’ve made three swaps and have a plan to combat the rest you’re ready to receive your Plastic Free Champion award. As Mat says, “I would definitely recommend other businesses do the Plastic Free Champion award. It’s really nice from a personal level to know that all those little things you can do, when you add them up, make a huge difference. Especially if you’re working with other people, it has a ripple effect.”

The award isn’t just for personal satisfaction though. Katie Sawday who founded FruutBox, a plastic free fruit and veg service reports seeing “a big growth in the last year with people coming to Fruutbox specifically because we’re focussing on being plastic free. There’s definitely a huge market out there for plastic free businesses.” They’ve even seen customers switch from bigger veg box companies to them because of their plastic free commitment.

Plastic reduction feels great on your conscience and helps bring in new customers, but plastic is cheap… won’t making swaps mean more costs? Not necessarily. Nicola Tremayne, the sustainability officer at Origin Coffee Roasters not only backs up Katie, saying that “people are very keen to reduce their single use plastic and environmental impact, and are very aware of the need to reduce plastic in their everyday life” but provides a case study on the benefits of cutting single use plastic.

After carrying out an audit on the business, making simple swaps and supplier changes to reduce single use plastics, she’s found that although the “company has grown hugely over the last few years and we’re roasting significantly more coffee than we were a few years ago, we’ve reduced the amount of waste we’re sending to general waste.” That might not sound like the biggest win but when you account for the fact that recycling costs half as much as general waste collection, they’ve seen a huge reduction in business costs.

This couple with the ‘money off scheme’ for customers bringing in reusable coffee cups resulted in 1000 less cups being used and more coffee sold in 2019, and opened up a new revenue stream as they began selling those reusable cups to customers too. The benefit of reducing plastic start to pile up when you look closer.

As a wholesaler, Origin Coffee can make these big changes, but that doesn’t mean there’s no power for businesses on the receiving end. UnRap, a waste free refill store purchases everything wholesale without plastic and then distributes on to customers in containers they bring from home. They are proving to suppliers that the plastic free market exists.

Together, all businesses from independent shops to rapidly growing SME’s can have a tremendous impact.  From small swaps to sweeping changes, they’re pushing plastic free up the supply chain and creating easy opportunities for consumers to opt into the plastic free revolution. A small swap might seem like a drop in the ocean, but business across the country are proving that those actions are making waves felt far and wide.

Start your buisness plastic free journey today here

PS. If you’re already making changes and reducing plastic then you can still apply, sign up on the link above for the toolkit and instructions on how to get your award.