Companies moving away from single-use plastic

Plastic pollution is one of the most worrying environmental concerns affecting the planet currently. Each year, roughly 8 million tonnes of plastic is discarded into the oceans around the world. The knock-on effect is that animals are harmed. It’s said that millions of animal deaths are caused by plastic every year. Be it through strangulation, starvation, or plastic damaging vital organs, plastic is causing huge problems. And single-use plastic is especially problematic. This is the plastic that’s quickly manufactured, before being used once and getting dumped into the ocean. But there are some companies attempting to move away from single-use plastic – we explore them below. 

Exodus Travels

Exodus Travels is an adventure travel company that offers tours in Europe, amongst other travelling options. In 2018 Exodus pledged to ‘ban the bottle’, removing the need for travellers on their trips to have to buy plastic bottles for drinking water. Plastic bottles were previously essential on trips as customers needed to have clean, safe drinking water available. Now though, over 98 per cent of their trips now offer an alternative to single-use plastic bottles, with Exodus offering reusable containers. In 2021, Exodus have gone further though, and have looked to remove all single-use plastic from their trips in a bit to reduce their carbon footprint.

Evian Water

Evian Water are also working to try and go greener in their production of plastic water bottles. All of their plastic bottles – aside from the label and the cap – are made from 25 per cent recycled PET in a bid to increase the recycling rates of bottles and avoid wastage. On top of this, Evian are reducing their carbon footprint by powering their bottling sites with 100 per cent renewable energy. Since 2008, Evian have also planted 130 million as they attempt to limit their impact on the environment.

McDonalds

As a huge global entity, McDonalds has a responsibility to become greener, and they’re moving to improve their stance on single-use plastic. By 2024, McDonalds have committed to ensuring that all customer packaging will be made from renewable, recycled, or certified sources while being designed to be recyclable or compostable. Beyond single-use plastics, McDonalds are also pledging to become net zero by 2030 across all their restaurants and offices. This refers to ensuring that their greenhouse emissions will be decreased or offset to the point where they have no impact on the environment.

As a consumer, it’s important to support companies that are attempting to go green, rather than those that are continuing as normal. Reducing single-use plastics is a key way to support endangered species, and you can make a difference by supporting the companies that are taking action.