Our Planet Our Power
Every year, to mark Earth Day, our Sustainability team host Green Week. This year, following the theme of Earth Day, “Our Planet Our Power”, we hosted our biggest Green Week ever! People across the company joined forces, running events, getting creative and above all, highlighting the importance of looking after our planet. So from switching the lights off in the offices, to baking without an oven, here are just a few of the activities we organised for Green Week 2025.
The power of information
This year we kicked off Green Week with talks from Bristol Waste and Fareshare. Fareshare, who we regularly donate to, gave us some fascinating insight into all the work they do preventing food waste and redistributing food waste to the people who need it. If you haven’t heard of them, then you can check out all the fantastic work they do here. Bristol Waste then told us all about what happens to our waste here in Bristol. From recycling myths, to food waste powered vehicles, it was an enlightening session with lots of relevant tips and information learned!
Lock up your printers
At the start of week, we challenged everyone not to use the printers. While we exclusively buy FSC certified paper, we realise the impact printing can have on our carbon foorprint, and often that can be avoided. We lock up our printers for green week to make sure people are only printing when they really have to. We’ve found this reminds people to think twice about whether they need to print something, and we’ve noticed the volume of printing really decreases as a result.
Challenge yourself!
We threw out some challenges to the company. Although we offer terracycling for soft plastics as well as standard recycling, we asked our staff not to buy anything with single use plastic for the week. That meant making lunch at home, or shopping locally. Most crucially, no more supermarket salad! The goal here is to get our staff thinking about what they purchase and how they can buy better, and we think once you start making those considerations, it’s easy to continue long after green week.
We also asked everyone living within a 5 mile radius to ditch the car for the week, getting to work by any other means necesary, to cut down on carbon emmissions. Having these small challenges really works to get people trying alternatives. Some people who thought driving was the only option they have, realised there are better ways to get to work which are often healthier too.
Getting people’s attention with “Art”
We don’t want people to just let Green Week wash over them, so our Operations team got creative. Using exclusively packaging from the Recycling bins, we created displays with shocking environmental facts that are relevant to us, and our consumption in the office.
We also created some modern art using pieces of recyclable waste that were found in the general waste, or recycled incorrectly. Although we’re a pretty green bunch, we often find some people are guilty of not recycling properly so our challenge is to get people to understand what they’re doing wrong and change their ways for good. Since Green Week finished, we’ve noticed a huge imporovement, and the Operations team are spending a lot less time fishing Recycling out of the general waste bin!
Promoting Re-use
We had a few activities centred around re-use. We themed our weekly Craft Club around repairing and repurposing old items. We collected donations of old IT equipment to donate, and we held our first Jumble Swap. Similar to our annual clothes swap, everyone brought in useful working items they no longer needed, and brought them in to swap. Loads of items were re-homed, and the remainder were donated to a local charity shop.
The No-bake Bake-sale
A first for Green week, some keen bakers offered up their skills for a Bake Sale with a twist. All bakes must be made without using any artificial heat. Several people rose to the challenge, and selection of hand made treats were produced and sold, with all donations going to Fareshare who visited us earlier in the week.
Calling all Creatives
As a company filled to the brim with creative minds, we wanted to find a way to harness that. We held a photography compatition with the theme “Our Planet Our Power”. We had two categories, one for photos taken on a mobile phone, and one for DSLRs. Both categories had some beautiful entries which were all judged blind, but these are the two entries that wowed the judges! On top of all this, a crack team produced a Green Week film, centred around commuting to work. Starring and produced by several of our talented staff, the final film was a big hit, with an important message!
Green Ambassador
At the end of our Green Week, we take nominations for Green Ambassador. Anyone can nominate themselves, or a team member based on their green credentials – whether that’s someone making changes and really taking on the challenges of Green Week, or soemone who factors sustainability into all of their decisions. This year, fresh off the success of winning the photo competition, Lily Stanley won the prize of Green Ambassador this year, clinching the price of an extra day’s annual leave. Having organised local litterpicks, and spearhedded massive recycling missions on foreign shoots, she showed the judges she lives and breathes the green lifestyle.
