“All around the world, people, communities and businesses are saying: “Stop; something must be done about this.”

On World Environment Day 5 June 2019 the Canary Wharf Estate became the world’s first Plastic Free Commercial Centre as recognised by marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage. We’re also the first district in London to be awarded this status and were proud of this achievement

But what does plastic free really mean in this context? It’s worth thinking about this for a moment.

Although we will never be able to live our lives without plastic, and although the billions of tonnes of plastic produced since the 1950’s has permeated global and local ecosystems, will take geological timescales to disappear, there is a way we can make a real difference to this massive problem.

We can certainly free ourselves from our addiction to the countless trillions of pieces of single use plastic (SUP) that permeate our daily lives.

Plastic Free means doing just that and re-thinking the behaviours and lifestyle that come with it. It’s about moving away from this excessively convenient lifestyle that we have sleepwalked into.

All around the world people, communities and businesses are waking up and saying “Stop, something must be done about this”

Our community is no exception. On World Environment Day 2017, together we voted to tackle SUP and on World Environment Day 2018 we launched our Breaking the Plastic Habit programme.

Since then we initiated our #3weeks campaign removing over 1.2 million straws from the Estate. Our Deposit Return Scheme has taken nearly 20,000 plastic bottles and our water refill stations have been used more than 300,000 times – have you used one yet? There are seven to choose from.

But the best part of our activity here at Canary Wharf is that it is inclusive and involves the people, communities and businesses who want to participate and take action. The power of collaborative action cannot be underestimated. The impact the wider Canary Wharf community has had in driving this forward has been immense and is clearly reflected in the incredible statistics we have been able to achieve.

Our Trailblazer Partner – Efendi Dry Cleaners in Jubillee Place – is offering rewards via the helpful app and has introduced its own deposit return scheme for plastic hanger

The two Chop’d branches on the Estate are now supporting HELPFUL too, both offering customers the UK’s first 100% recycled, 100% recyclable, UK-made bowls. The chain is also incentivising customers to do the right thing through its reusable bowl reward scheme.

It also doesn’t offer plastic bags and rewards customers with extra food for refusing paper bags – which so far has saved 2.5 million bags since 2004.

Elsewhere, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, which runs five day nurseries on the Estate has joined us in eliminating SUP by removing it from all of its nurseries.

We also have recently set up the Compost Club, which will provide a resource stream for compostables - tenants like Farmstand will be among the first to use this facility.

News on the Wharf is supporting our Deposit Return Scheme with in store discounts.

Together we are #BreakingThePlasticHabit but we are not done yet. This is an ongoing journey involving our whole community here at Canary Wharf and to date over 40 businesses and retailers have joined in our campaign by committing to remove at least 3 items of SUP. Morgan Stanley and Refinitiv have also been confirmed as Flagship Partners and we will be working closely together to amplify what we can achieve in collaboration.

Last Wednesday we asked our community to vote again. This time considering: Climate Action, Beyond Zero Waste, Wellbeing, and Responsible Purchasing. #BreakingThePlasticHabit will become business as usual, but what should we focus on next?

Imagine what we can achieve by working together…

The great thing about our sustainability here at Canary Wharf is that we can all get involved, at a personal, community and a business level in activity that is important to us.  

We are tracking progress with statistics and stories which we can all relate to. Our latest sustainability report is available at sustainability.canarywharf.com/ setting out where we are.

We want you to get involved too and we want to help tell your story! It really is that easy

Please get in touch and we’ll try to help.

Martin Gettings

Originally published 19 June 2019 in Wharf Life

Thanks to Massey Maddison Limited