We know that the use of single use plastics (SUPs) is one of the most pressing environmental and social issues facing us today. The UK consumes five million tonnes of plastic a year. Plastic is part of our everyday lives but SUPs are causing serious problems for the planet, and we all have a part to play in reducing plastic pollution.
Through our Breaking The Plastic Habit programme, we’ve been able to tackle single use plastics at Canary Wharf, creating a culture of reuse and encouraging more mindful plastic use.
As a micro city with a daily population of more than 120,000, Canary Wharf is in a unique position to tackle plastic pollution on our Estate. In 2018, we decided to take on the problem by launching Breaking The Plastic Habit, a programme designed to tackle single use plastics at Canary Wharf.
In 2019, we were the first district in London, and the first commercial centre in the world, to be awarded Plastic Free Communities status by marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage.
The aim of our programme was not to remove all plastic on the Estate. Instead, we targeted specific, avoidable single use plastic items and influenced a positive behavioural change amongst Canary Wharf stakeholders, particularly our occupants and visitors. We encouraged them to rethink their usage and break the habit by incrementally and collectively moving away from throwaway plastics.
We achieved Plastic Free Communities status, an accreditation run by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), a leading environmental charity in 2019. To reduce our plastic footprint and secure this accreditation, Canary Wharf Group committed to achieve targets across five key areas set out by the Surfers Against Sewage.
The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) at the Scottish Event Campus on 31 October – 12 November 2021.