Throughout 2022 almost 70 Sodexo colleagues volunteered over 250 hours of their time to help the MCS’s Beach Clean initiative. Sodexo gives each contracted employee three days per year to get out and volunteer their time to activities that have a positive social impact.
The volunteer’s efforts resulted in over 48kg of waste removed from West Kirby in Edinburgh and Brighton beaches during the cleans. This included 3,061 individual litter items being picked up and recorded.
To support the initiative further, Sodexo has donated £17,000 to the charity, with the funds being generated by the bag levy from the two previous financial years.
Claire Atkins Morris, corporate responsibility director at Sodexo UK & Ireland said: “As a business, we’re committed to achieving net zero by 2045, and plastic reduction is a major part of that plan. Since 2017, we’ve reduced over 190 million pieces of plastic from our own operations, but much work still needs to be done.
“That’s why we are delighted to continue working with the Marine Conservation Society, as we always look for new ways to protect the environment. We also want to thank Sodexo colleagues who volunteered their time to keep British beaches clean and clear waste items that could have harmed marine life.”
Plastic is one of the most persistent pollutants on earth and at every step in its lifecycle, even long after it has been discarded, plastic creates greenhouse gas emissions that are contributing to climate change. At least eight million tonnes of discarded plastic enter oceans each year and plastic pollution at sea is on course to double by 2030.