Greene King pubs to accept hard-to-recycle plastic chocolate and biscuit tubs that will be turned into charitable donations
Greene King, the UK’s leading pub company and brewer, is partnering with two specialist recycling businesses to turn hard-to-recycle plastic into much needed cash for Macmillan Cancer Support and is calling on the public to participate.
Consumers and businesses are being encouraged to drop off their used plastic confectionery and biscuit tubs at any of Greene King’s managed pubs, restaurants and hotels across the UK. The tubs will be taken to a specialist recycling facility and processed into granulated recycled plastic. Each tub equates to approximately eight pence and money is raised by selling the recycled plastics, with the profit going to Greene King’s charity partner, Macmillan Cancer Support.
Greene King is partnering with co-cre8; specialists in creating solutions for hard-to-recycle materials and responsible for attracting large businesses to support the campaign and DCW Polymers, which will use its high-tech plastic reprocessing plant to shred and granulate the tubs ready for sale to manufacturers, in place of virgin plastic.
Vance Fairman-Smith, Greene King’s supply chain director, said: “Earlier this year, we announced we were the first pub company to achieve the Carbon Trust’s Zero Waste to Landfill Standard, and we’re continually looking at how we can tackle waste and help the environment through recycling. We’re really excited to be able to offer this recycling facility to our customers but also to support Macmillan, which needs help more than ever following the huge gap in donations following the Covid 19 crisis.”
“This is a great way of not just helping charity but also the environment”, says Peter Goodwin, co-cre8’s Co-founder.
“DCW Polymers successfully tested this scheme last year in Devon, with more than £1,200 raised for charity. Such was the appetite, we are now ready to take it nationwide and, together with the backing of Greene King, we hope turn it into an annual post-Christmas event”, added Peter.
It is estimated that well over 100 million tubs of chocolates, sweets and biscuits are sold in the UK each year; with Christmas accounting for as much as forty per cent of all sales. These tubs are typically made from polypropylene; a hard plastic that is not always accepted by local authorities for recycling, resulting in it, instead, being incinerated or landfilled.
Greene King will be accepting tubs between the 1 and 31 of January 2021. Since many areas of the UK are now subject to restrictions, customers can check the ‘PubHub’ guide to find out if their local Green King pub is open for business by visiting https://www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk/pubs-near-me. To check whether your tubs are suitable for participating in the scheme look for the symbol, below, stamped into the outside base of the tub.
Peter Goodwin speaks at Environmental Packaging Week 2020
Keshari joined the co-cre8 team in 2022 and is responsible for the daily management of the business finances including financial reporting, purchase ledger, sales ledger and building relationships with customers and suppliers.
Wayne joined the co-cre8 team in 2022 and brings more than two decade’s worth of operational and commercial experience in the food service packaging and waste management sectors. With co-cre8’s portfolio of three business divisions, Wayne spreads his unrivalled skillset across multiple activities including for our Honest brand, internal Waste and Recycling Stations and System Design partnership projects. Wayne plays a key role in ensuring co-cre8’s operations are commercially viable, building and maintaining great relationships with suppliers, ensuring the smooth success of projects and keeping a smile on everyone’s face!
We welcomed Hannah to the team in January 2022 to grow and develop our Built Environment business division. Hannah brings a wealth of skills to the team including her fantastic communication and eye for detail.
Katie joined the team in December 2021, and plays a key role in supporting the Sales and Marketing Manager with all sales and marketing activity across the co-cre8 and Honest brands. Katie’s main responsibilities include pro-actively developing and reactively managing business-to-business sales opportunities, processing orders, general customer service and supporting with the creation and delivery of marketing campaigns.
Prior to co-founding co-cre8 in 2019, Peter spent 10 years as a UK Director of Closed Loop Environmental Solutions. With a passion for recycling and, as one of the UK’s leading exponents of promoting more circular solutions, Peter created and delivered many pioneering industry projects, most notably the Simply Cups scheme.
James has over 20 years’ experience in the waste and recycling industry. Starting with just one second hand truck, he founded and developed Simply Waste Solutions into a thriving, profitable business with a £35m turnover. In 2020, James decided that he was ready for new challenges and took Simply Waste to a successful exit, selling to Biffa plc for £40m.
Natalie joins the co-cre8 team with extensive knowledge and experience in waste, recycling, and circular business models, with her speciality in Finance. For the last 17 years, Natalie has worked, and was a shareholder, in a start-up, high growth to exit waste and recycling business, with 15 years spent at board level.
Georgia joined the team at co-cre8 in 2020 and is responsible for developing the business through creative thinking and effective communication via sales and marketing channels.
Rachel originally joined the co-cre8 team in 2019 as Customer Service Specialist for Simply Cups. Her role has since evolved, following the launch of the Built Environment range, where she now heads up all logistics including supplier liaising, order processing and general operations of the business.