Sustainability is a key issue for all businesses and society, and PlastikCity and PlastikMedia believe in working and addressing the issues of the present, for a better future.
We take sustainability seriously – focusing on three key areas.
As a small company, we have a low overall footprint but believe every company has a responsibility to minimise its impact on the environment, regardless of its size or activities. As a digital-first company, our goods and services are created and delivered with no physical transportation or manual production, we use low-energy appliances wherever available and we buy all consumables, stationary and cleaning products in bulk, using natural and biodegradable products wherever possible.
We actively focus on minimising our environmental impact with a number of policies. Solar PV on the office roof generates significant green electricity for the day-to-day running of the company, with heating provided in the winter by a low-carbon air-source pump system.
Our site has EV charging stations installed for staff and for visitors, with all company vehicles registered being hybrid-electric vehicles or fully-electric vehicles, to minimise our impact while on the road. Where possible, we also opt for digital meeting or conferencing options, to cut down on unnecessary travel.
Sustainability extends to practices and strategies to ensure the well-being of our employees, customers, communities and industry at large. This includes having a programme to monitor employee performance and well-being, rewarding our staff with monthly and annual incentives and rewards. We also always offer fair wages (we pay all staff the real living wage as a minimum), attractive benefits and the promotion of a healthy work-life balance while offering opportunities for professional development and advancement through training to our staff.
We are supporters of diversity and inclusion, ensuring all clients, customers or employees are treated fairly and with equal opportunities, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability or other characteristics.
We also always operate with ethical business practices, ensuring transparency in business operations and always ensuring ourselves, and our partner companies, adhere to ethical standards, fair practices and environmental sustainability.
Finally, we support our local community and our wider industry. We sponsor a local Under-9’s football team, (Thompsons United FC) providing on-kit sponsorship as well as training devices and tools on an annual basis. We’re active in the social scene of the industry, often attending or hosting charitable events, and raising money for local charities or other good causes.
Our charity of choice is the Air Ambulance Service (TAAS) and we’re delighted to have played a part in raising funds for the charity since our inception. As a service funded entirely by public donations (a fact not known by many!) we believe in supporting this lifesaving work. Please learn more about the work of TAAS here.
By balancing sound business practices with long-term stability, planning and growth, we aim to ensure our company remains strong and resilient in a competitive market for a long period of time.
To achieve this, we will bring a strong brand which delivers value to our partner companies and the wider industry. We will also minimise our costs by using software and modern technology to minimise travel, improve efficiencies and run a lean and sustainable business.
We will invest sustainably, adopt new technologies to enhance efficiency and minimise costs, and extend these efficiencies to the clients we work with.
We also believe we have a duty to fairly represent the positives and the negatives of the industry we represent – however, we do strongly believe that plastics have been handed unfair media coverage in recent years.
It is, therefore, part of our role as an industry body to counter this harmful messaging, and to focus on the positive aspects plastic packaging and plastic products can play, while remaining unbiased in the face of new legislation and changes to how the industry operates.
Overall, we believe we have a positive role to play in the modernisation, education and digitisation of the plastics manufacturing industry and use our significant voice in the sector to promote and rally behind new technologies, material applications and processing machinery, leading us to a greener future.
While ‘plastic’ has become a dirty word to many, we understand the value that plastic brings – in the right application. Society is correct to move away from single-use plastic items, but the entire industry and material should not be vilified on the back of this progress.
We know that plastic has a vital role to play in a sustainable future, however, we need to monitor the intelligent use and applications of the material and move towards circular systems, as well as accepting responsibility for post-life products currently in waste, recycling or EFW (energy-from waste) streams.
Plastic products save energy, carbon, water, fuel, food and lives. In the automotive industry, plastics and plastic composites are widely used to replace metallic components to reduce weight, and therefore reduce the fuel consumption for a vehicle over its entire lifecycle. In the food industry, plastic packaging prevents food waste by extending the shelf life of perishable products. Plastic products play a key role in the medical industry, with millions of moulded or 3D-printed devices saving lives and enhancing treatment for patients across the globe.
If you’re interested in learning more about the positive impact of plastics, we invite you to read more on the British Plastic Federation’s Positive Contribution of Plastic pages, to read the latest news releases in our ‘Recycling & Sustainability’ pages, or reach out to us with any specific comments or questions.