We decided here at Jones FM to pick a campaign to get behind to celebrate Earth Day 2017. The campaign we decided upon was the #OneLess campaign which is working towards eradicating the use of single-use plastic bottles. The aim is for shops to not sell single-use plastic bottles, which Selfridges agreed to do last year, and for businesses to promote and assist their employees by incentivising them and providing them with the means to no longer use them in the workplace.
The reason Jones have decided to back this campaign is due to the scale to which this issue has reached in London. The London Assembly Environment Committee found that London uses the most plastic bottles than anywhere else in England, yet is also is the worst at recycling. London recycles a pitiful 32% of the bottles it uses, while comparatively, the country average is much higher at 43%.
The reason that the mass use of single-use plastic bottles is troubling is due to the impact it has on the environment. If they end up in the Thames, which 10% of the litter in the Thames is plastic bottles so we know it does, they will get into our oceans and the bottles take over 450 years to break down. During this process, the chemicals used to make them, such as BPA, are omitted into the water. This will have a negative impact on both wildlife and us as these chemicals are known to have a multitude of health issues when ingested, seriously google it. Currently, they have found that 75% of the wildlife in the Thames has ingested plastic. These are all quite scary stats, right?
As you can see, when you consider an issue such as this you can’t help but want to get behind it and do your bit to lower the amount used. Jones have therefore decided to make their Dartford and St Katharine Docks offices single-use plastic bottle free. They have done this by installing water coolers into both the offices, and giving each employee a water bottle they can use throughout the day, and even take home and use there.
