Proud to be Plastic Neutral
This Plastic Free July, WPR is proud to announce that we are now certified plastic neutral, having partnered with rePurpose Global to fund the recovery of as much ocean-bound plastic waste as is used across the business and the WPR team’s personal lives.
This significant commitment is a key element in WPR’s focus on taking steps to do more for the planet, reducing the business’s negative impact and increasing its positive impact. Earlier this year, WPR became a certified carbon-neutral business – offsetting carbon emissions for the whole team across professional and personal lives.
Throughout 2022, WPR has introduced a host of measures to reduce plastic usage across the agency, removing plastic from consumables including stationery, food, gifts, branded products, toiletries and even cleaning products, and educating the team on ways of reducing personal plastic consumption at home.
Through the partnership with rePurpose Global, WPR is supporting Project Neela Sapana in Chennai, India. This vetted waste management project collects and processes hard-to-recycle waste streams otherwise considered too low value to be reclaimed from the environment, such as chocolate wrappers, crisp packets, and similar flexible packaging items. It is creating a new model of waste collection, ensuring the ethical collection and permanent disposal of hazardous MLP waste.
4,611KGS OF WASTE RECOVERED ANNUALLY
WPR managing director Jane Ainsworth said: “Trying to remove plastic from our business has been an eye-opening experience. We’ve learnt a lot and found some fantastic new products and suppliers along the way. But even with all of these measures in place, there are areas where it’s impossible to replace plastic entirely. So, we wanted to find a meaningful way to calculate our remaining plastic consumption and invest in projects to remove the equivalent amount from the planet.
“rePurpose Global has an innovative approach to identifying and working with projects that have real local impact and which, when viewed from a global perspective, have the potential to make a genuine difference. It’s a fantastic way for organisations of all sizes to ensure projects get the support and capital required to bring about long-term change.”
To coincide with Plastic Free July, WPR has also organised a company-wide talk from Everyday Plastic and has offered the team plastic-free alternatives to household items, demonstrating the variety of ways to reduce plastic in our homes. Becoming plastic neutral is part of WPR’s wider 30 Positive Impacts at 30 initiative which has seen WPR pledge to do more for our planet, people, community, society and future in the year that the agency turns 30.
about repurpose global
rePurpose Global is the world’s leading plastic action platform dedicated to reducing waste, reviving lives, and restoring nature’s balance. Through its pioneering ecosystem of solutions that span across advisory, action, and advocacy, the organization helps people and companies calculate, reduce, and offset their plastic footprint, while empowering grassroots innovators on the cutting edge of solving for the planet’s future.
To date, rePurpose Global has created systemic change for people across 26 countries and hundreds of purposeful brands worldwide, such as Grove Collaborative, AB InBev, The Hut Group, Google, and Colgate. On behalf of its global coalition, the organization eliminates millions of pounds of plastic waste from nature every year, and in doing so, positively impact the lives of 10,000+ marginalized waste workers and community members worldwide.
Check out this 4-minute introduction video or go to the rePurpose Global website to explore their platform and join the movement.
