Go plastic bag free on 3 July and do your bit for the planet

At Paperstone, we’re always looking for ways to be more environmentally friendly. And for ways to help you (our friendly customers) be more sustainable. So, in celebration of plastic free day at the start of July, we’re giving away a free tote bag on orders over £49. The design may vary.

Plastic pollution is having a devastating effect on our oceans and marine life. It is estimated that in the UK we use more than five million tonnes of plastic every year, of which only around a quarter is recycled.

What can we do to reduce plastic at work?

A good place to start is with a waste audit. It can be a messy job, but by examining what people are actually throwing away, you can discover ideas on how to tackle the waste.

For example, if you find lots of single-use water bottles in the bin, you can try to make access to water easier in your office.

Here are five of our ideas on how to reduce plastic usage in the office.

1. Make it easy to recycle

Try to encourage recycling. A good way to prompt people to recycle is to remove rubbish bins from desks and provide recycling bin areas. Make it easy for your team to recycle by buying clearly marked bins.

You can up the ante by holding a competition to see which team can reduce their waste by the biggest amount.

Recycle your printer cartridges, IT equipment, and mobile phones through our partner TakeBack. They provide the box and the money they raise supports thousands of schools, clubs, and charities.

2. Ditch the plastic cups

Reacquaint yourself with good old mugs and glasses that can be washed up and reused. You can even invest in branded mugs for your team. Don’t supply plastic cups next to the water cooler, have a tray of small glasses on hand for visitors. And encourage your team to use a refillable water bottle.

3. Cut down on packaging

It’s really frustrating when your delivery of a thimble arrives in a box the size of an elephant. Here at Paperstone, we package our products in the right size, fully recyclable box. All our packaging is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) approved. This means the material is sourced from a well-managed forest or is recycled. Plus, any air pockets we use are made from biodegradable plastic.

Work with businesses in your supply chain to try to eliminate excess packaging and find more sustainable solutions.

4. Shop smartly

Choose recycled or sustainable products for the office. We stock over 1,000 recycled products – from paper to post-it notes. Take a look at the range.

5. Keep reusable shopping bags handy

Stash a few reusable bags in your work kitchen. People can use them when they go out and buy things for the office, or when they have forgotten their own. We can help you start your collection, simply order over £49 of products and get your hands on one of our totes awesome bags.