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Hey all,
As you'll have seen from me in the past, here at O2 we care about sustainability and the environment. In 2016, O2 became the first organisation in the world to receive the highest level Carbon Trust Standard for supply chain, and last summer we recertified to the Carbon Trust Standard for Supply Chain at level 3 - and were one of only three companies globally to achieve this highest level of certification.
But what about the waste our employees produce at our Bath Road HQ?
There's an MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) site that handles all of our dry recycling (plastic bottles and cans for example) and the remaining general waste which they call residual waste. The dry recycling is processed into bales and then go on to get processed into useful items like garden furniture and fleece clothing.
The residual waste from this site and 3 others around London goes to an 'Energy from Waste' plant in shipping containers on barges down the River Thames and none goes to landfill. Using the capital’s 'green highway' of the River Thames saves 100,000 truck journeys across congested London roads every year, improves air quality and reduces the waste company’s carbon footprint, saving around 13,500 tonnes of CO2 annually. These same barges then transport the ash resulting from the energy recovery process further down the Thames to be processed into aggregate for the construction industry.
We have also made some great progress in our HQ by moving to reusable food containers and hot drinks cups which saves on the waste we produce.
The efforts O2 are going to, to help reduce, re-use and recycle the waste at our HQ gives me inspiration for things I can do at home - such as switching to high efficiency, low energy LED bulbs, making full use of the several recycling bins outside my flats, re-using my own fruit bags when picking loose fruit & veg at supermarkets, making a conscious decision to buy food products with as little packaging as possible - or at least have them be recyclable. What sort of things do you do at home to help reduce your impact on the environment? Do you think you could live a 'zero waste' lifestyle like Charlotte from from Zero Waste Life who blogs on this topic has sent virtually nothing to landfill since 2017?
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Well done O2. A great achievement. 
I recycle a lot of stuff. Using bags for life, sending clothes, unwanted furniture and books to charity shops. I have stopped using bottled water and have reusable containers filled with tap water. I also use low energy led light bulbs, Not keen on those if honest but we use them nonetheless.
I could think of more but those will do for now.
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I recycle most things I use. I don't use polythene or plastic bags at all. bags for life which just sit in the cupboard as groceries are bought online. The only shopping I do is for the odd milk or loaf if I run out. Carry the bits in the basket on the scooter so I reckon my biggest footprint would be energy use although I use PurePlanet which they advertise as 100% renewable electricity and 100% carbon offset gas.
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@Cleoriff wrote:
I have stopped using bottled water and have reusable containers filled with tap water.
I do similar, though the water in my neck of the woods isn't the greatest, so I use a water filtration jug to purify it. I'm not comfortable with the plastic refills though so I'm currently considering a more eco-friendly alternative such as the 'Phox V2', which you get a re-usable filter cartridge, and then use refill packs which cut right down on single-use materials.
@Anonymous wrote:
Anyone that does anything, however small deserves a pat on the back in this throwaway society that we live in! Good to see the business giants doing it too!
I couldn't agree more. The worst thing would be to do nothing, so doing 'anything' is a positive step, and it all adds up. More energy efficient appliances and electronics, reduced or zero packaging food, re-usable containers/cups/etc, eco journeys, locally produced clothing etc.
