Setting the Gold Standard for UK Businesses

We’re supersizing the SAS Plastic Free Champion award. Five thousand businesses have joined the Plastic Free Communities campaign over the last four years. Now we are recognising how those initial trailblazers have deepened their actions, as well as new businesses setting themselves up as plastic free from the get go.

We’ve come a long way in four years. When SAS launched the Plastic Free Communities campaign, our volunteer network was engaging with businesses to help them start their plastic free journey. The first rung ask has always been a simple one. Remove three single use items from the business and have a plan in place to start working on the rest.

That got local independents the Plastic Free Champion award and supported their whole community as it worked towards getting the Plastic Free Communities accreditation.

Fast forward to 2022 and the impact of the campaign is seeing massive plastic reduction across the UK, driven by our Plastic Free Champions. But those champions aren’t just reducing three items … they’re making huge strides in reducing some of the biggest plastic hitters. Single use bottles, coffee cups, plastic bags and takeaway packaging.

Not only that, but new businesses setting up in Plastic Free Communities are deciding not to use as much single use plastic as they can, from the day they open the doors.

We need to recognise these deeper actions and the wider work that our awesome business community gets involved in. From supporting local clean ups to hosting events, signing petitions or gathering evidence for SAS.

That’s why we’ve updated our Plastic Free Business award, to something pretty familiar … a Bronze, Silver, Gold scheme.

We mentioned the ‘biggest hitters’ of plastic pollution earlier. We are focusing on these as part of the new Silver and Gold awards, and here’s why:

Our initial Plastic Free Award counts as Bronze and then, as champions continue their journey, they can achieve the Silver and Gold standards. Helping them and us celebrate the breadth of change that’s happening in communities.

And change is happening. Our recent impact report showed that it’s local businesses that are helping drive big reductions in the availability of single use plastic in the places where we live. It’s also helping support local high streets … the research confirmed that shoppers are actively looking to support businesses taking action on plastic.

You don’t have to be part of an existing Plastic Free Community to work on or apply for the award either. Any local independent, anywhere in the UK, can sign up. And if you’re already on the journey or plastic free … brilliant. Sign up and tell us. We’ll get your award to you and we will also be able to count your actions as evidence of change across the UK. That strengthens our collective voice, as we call on government and industry for the system change we need to see. Fast.

Want more info? Click here to get your free toolkit and more advice

Find your local Plastic Free Community here