Plastic Free July

This plastic free July, WPR has been working with the Canal and River Trust to help, in a very practical sense, remove waste plastic from the local area and prevent it reaching our oceans.

Now in its second year of partnering with the Trust, WPR has adopted a new stretch of canal at Smethwick Locks in the Galton Valley, where the old and new locks run in parallel connecting the Black Country and the north to Birmingham.

This July – on one of the first hot days of the summer to date – the team set to work litter picking and clearing tow paths, removing rubbish from the waterway, and helping nature bloom in this pocket of the city.

Don Skoyles, finance and operations director, said: “Over the two years we’ve been working with the Canal and River Trust, we’ve dedicated more than 200 hours to improving the stretches of canal we’re responsible for. It’s so rewarding to see the tangible difference that we can make and reinforces why we are determined to discourage reliance on plastic – particularly single-use plastics for which there are so many better alternatives available.”   

WPR has been a plastic neutral workplace since 2022. Achieving this goal involved stopping the use of single-use plastics wherever possible, sourcing plastic-free alternatives for everything from cleaning products to meeting room refreshments, and working with rePurpose Global to off-set the remaining, unavoidable, plastic consumption.

The agency’s focus on people, purpose and planet as part of its ESG commitments has seen it dedicate 1.5% of net profit annually to initiatives making WPR a greener place to work and introduce schemes such as green home improvement loans.