Introduction
The government wants to leave our environment in a better state than we found it. Tackling the amount of plastic produced and disposed of within the UK is key to this.
Plastic is cheap, hygienic, secure and used in a vast number of products in modern society. It is durable and can break down into microplastics, without fully degrading. Consequently, when plastic enters our seas and environment, it can have devastating consequences for wildlife and the wider natural world and risks being transferred up the food chain.
It is estimated that 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced globally since the 1950s. Without urgent action to cut demand, this is likely to be 34 billion tonnes by 2050, the majority of which will end up in landfill or polluting the world’s continents and oceans.
One of the ways to reduce the amount of plastic in circulation is to reduce demand for single use plastic.
N&J Building Services LTD are committed to reducing and removing single-use plastic across our entire operations, wherever possible, as stated in our Sustainable Practises Strategy.
We will:
- Meet the government-wide ban to eliminate consumer single-use plastic from our office and site operations; and
- address single-use plastics produced by suppliers and sub-contractors. Many of the suppliers have specific contexts and challenges, which mean they will need to use some single-use plastic. However, we will work to reduce and remove avoidable consumer single-use plastic, wherever viable and practical.
- Induct our new staff and educate our existing staff members by providing toolbox talks.
- Display our Single Use Plastics notice within our offices and site locations to remind our own staff as well as informing site visitors of our commitments.
Defining single-use plastic.
‘Single-use plastic’ is a wide-ranging term. It includes all products made wholly or partly of plastic, which are typically intended to be used just once and / or for a short period of time before being disposed of.
For the sake of this policy, we are focussed on removing ‘consumer single-use plastics’ i.e. plastics which are used by consumers as opposed to plastics with applied or industrial uses, such as toner cartridges.
We will focus on removing consumer single-use plastics which are avoidable and / or which have viable and sustainable market alternatives: Plastics used for catering: - Single-use sachets (e.g. coffee pods, sauces, milk) - Take-away cutlery, boxes and plates - Cups made wholly or partially from plastic - Water bottles - Straws and stirrers Plastics used for cleaning: - Single-use containers (e.g. hand soap, cleaning products) - Wipes containing plastic.Plastics used around the office: - Envelopes - Plastic wrapping for brochures Plastics used in packaging: - Single-use packaging from deliveries, where avoidable - Single-use carrier bags.
We will apply this policy to all relevant sourcing of new requirements, sub-contractors and suppliers. At the same time, N&J will create a programme of work to identify which existing contracts contain avoidable single-use plastics and work with the relevant suppliers and site managers to source and implement alternative products across our business.
As a minimum, we will replace single-use plastics with viable alternatives, such as compostable materials, unless there are compelling circumstances in operational and supply chain that prevent us from doing so. In the long-term, we will aim to reduce and remove avoidable disposable products altogether and instead encourage more sustainable practices.
We will continue to assess whether there are other single-use plastics, beyond the list outlined above, that are avoidable and / or have viable and sustainable market alternatives.
“Avoidable”, meaning the use of a product made of a certain material is not essential. An example would be plastic cutlery, for which single-use wooden cutlery or re-usable metal cutlery are readily available alternatives. identify other single-use plastics that do not currently have a suitable alternative available, we will seek to reduce the quantity of plastic used instead.
The goal of removing single-use plastic must not be done in a vacuum; wherever plastic is being removed or replaced with an alternative, we will ensure that an appropriate waste removal procedure (if required) is put in place and adequate signage is provided to educate consumers.
The government ban on single-use plastic does not include plastic brought in by staff. However, we will encourage staff to reduce the amount of plastic brought in by raising awareness, encouraging behaviour change and utilising our network of sustainability champions across the business.
Conclusion
N&J Building Services is committed to leading by example in the transition to a ban on single use plastics within our business. We recognise the urgency of addressing climate change and are dedicated to continuous improvement in our single use plastics reduction efforts.
Signed N.Papinigis
Nerijus Papinigis
Managing Director
