Elior’s marketing and purchasing department teamed up with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) this summer to collect litter on Sand Bay Beach in Weston-Super-Mare – highlighting the damage single-use plastic is doing to the ocean and its wildlife.
From a 100-metre stretch of beach, the team of 13 collected more than 477 items of litter, 76% of which were made of plastic.
Charlotte Wright, corporate social responsibility manager, Elior UK, said: “Clearing just one beach of so much plastic is a stark reminder of the consequences that single-use plastics have on the environment. That’s why we’ve laid out a three year plan to achieve a sharp reduction in the volume of single-use plastics in our supply chain and operations.”
The beach clean follows hot on the heels of the news that Elior has launched a new Plastics Policy to tackle single-use plastic across the leading contract caterer’s entire operation. As part of the policy, single-use plastic straws and stirrers will be banned from the 31 July 2018 and 30 September 2018 respectively. The move is expected to see annual consumption of more than 1 million plastic straws disappear from Elior sites practically overnight.
The beach clean was organised with the help of the Marine Conservation Society, the UK’s leading marine charity, which works to ensure our seas are healthy, pollution free, and protected. On UK beaches levels of litter have doubled in the past 20 years and the charity provides evidence of this to effect government policy change.