Wates Residential is to swap single-use plastic cups for reusable bottles, as part of its contribution to the fight to tackle plastic waste.
The decision comes after one of its workers was inspired to take action after watching BBC documentary Blue Planet II, which highlighted the severe effects plastic pollution is having on the marine environment.
The firm has already undertaken a pilot scheme at its mixed-use Abbey Area redevelopment in Camden, where Wates is building 141 homes as well as additional retail and commercial spaces.
On the site, reusable bottles have been bought from a social enterprise and distributed to the whole workforce, who can use water stations to fill them up.
Now the company has committed to rolling the change out across all of its sites.
Over a 10-year period, Wates estimates that swapping to reusable bottles could save approximately £4,350 per site, as well as reducing landfill by around 5,000kg and helping to reduce litter and marine pollution.
Previously, the Abbey Area redevelopment used an estimated 120,000 cups per year, which cost just over £1,300.
Wates is also hoping the change will help encourage employees to cut down their use of single-use plastic bottles.
The white, blue and green reusable bottles are also being used to spread the word of Wates’ ‘We’re Safer Together’ campaign, a strategy that aims to achieve zero harm across the Wates Group by 2020.
The company made its commitment following a proposal put forward by Denise Southard, a document controller and community champion for the company, who looked at how the Abbey Area team could reduce their plastic waste.
Paul Nicholls, managing director of Wates Residential South, said: “Reducing our single-use plastics waste is something we feel very passionate about at Wates Residential and this great initiative from Denise is another step on our journey towards doing that.
“We hope this commitment will not only drive change across our sites, but will also lead to new ambitions in the wider industry. We believe cutting down on avoidable plastic waste is the right thing to do and we are proud to be doing our bit to protect our Blue Planet.”
Denise Southard added: “After watching Blue Planet II and seeing the horrific damage that plastic can have on the environment, I was inspired to encourage others to reduce their plastic waste.
“Wates Residential has been extremely supportive in this and I am proud to work for a company that has embraced my idea so whole-heartedly. I can’t believe how easy it was to implement a simple swap from disposable cups to reusable bottles and hope other businesses are encouraged to do the same.”
