CSR Healthcare – My Pledge
Aimee Figliolini, Marketing Executive, STERIS Instrument Management Services
Some Background
For the last 12-18 months, I have been thinking a great deal about my carbon footprint and the impact it has on our planet. Having already made the change from Vegetarian to Vegan last year, I am now on the lookout for ways outside of my diet that can also support an eco-friendlier lifestyle.
After conducting some research, I discovered that single use plastic and fast fashion are some of the leading contributors to our climate’s pollution. In fact, fashion production makes up 10% of carbon emissions, dries up water sources, also polluting rivers and streams. 85% of which ends up in a landfill each year! You can read more about that in an article produced by Business Insider.
As a result of my research about 9 months ago, I vowed to only buy second-hand clothing and only purchase items that I truly needed or swap clothes with friends. This has been going well and I have even managed to score some great bargains on selling apps and charity shops! In fact, I even managed to find a whole outfit for a wedding I attended August last year second-hand and for the great price of £15!
My Pledge for the Group
As part of my pledge for the STERIS Healthcare Sustainability and Social Value Group, I would like to take my commitment one step further. I am now looking to reduce how much single-use plastic I purchase and use in my day to day life. The area I think this will make the most difference, is my food shopping.
Did you know that in the UK, Beeco states that households use over 500,000 tons of plastic food packaging but recycled less than 170,000 tons each year and sadly, most of this plastic ends up in the ocean. Find out more on the Beeco website.
I usually do my food shopping at two major supermarkets. I have now explored my local area and discovered a farm shop where all fruits and vegetables are sold without plastic wrapping. I also found a zero-waste shop where I can buy cupboard essentials e.g. pasta, grains and rice.
My pledge is to now go to the farm shop and the zero-waste shop before I go to the supermarket so that as many items on my shopping list are plastic free as possible. I plan to take pictures of the plastic waste from a regular food shop and then the plastic waste from my new food shop to compare the difference.
