Tis the season, to be sustainable

We’re now well into December, which means it’s your last chance to make 2018 as environmentally friendly as possible. With the Christmas festivities coming up, we don’t want your sustainable actions so far to go to waste. From vast amounts of food waste and excessive packaging to draining Christmas tree lights, there’s a true cost to our festive luxuries. But it doesn’t have to be that way! We’ve put together our top tips so that you can make a difference this year.

Sustainable Christmas tips

• Make your own cards (or go electronic!), wrapping and gifts. Get creative and get upcycling! 

• Recycling alert – look out for non-glossy papers without glitter or embellishment if you want them to be recycled or, better still, get creative and get reusing! Opt for brown paper and string, scraps of fabric, newspaper, magazine pages or reusable gift bags! Get some inspiration here.

• Gift experiences rather than objects and support local green businesses

• Christmas trees – did you know that real ones are more sustainable than artificial? Source your tree sustainably and recycle it so that it doesn’t end up in landfill.

• Keep your body moving, get into the fresh air and enjoy nature. Your wellbeing matters!

• Grub – go local, go veggie, ditch the packaging and use your leftovers. 

• Switch off before you head off! Do a sweep of your office to make sure that all computers & monitors, lights and equipment are turned off, and windows are shut. Take a look at some more energy saving ideas for your Christmas shutdown. 

• Give back to the community – donate, volunteer or give someone a helping hand this Christmas. And remember, you don’t have to go overboard. Buy less, eat less and waste less! 

Have a very merry (and sustainable) Christmas and a happy New Year! If you’d like to see how we’ve helped our clients engage their people this year, then check out our case studies.

Drowning in packaging and we want change!

recent survey into attitudes towards packaging shows that there’s a growing demand to reduce plastic packaging. Over 7,000 people from different European countries, including the UK, France, and Spain took part. The results show an insight into our views on sustainable packaging, recycling, and other green related policies. 

The results show that the majority of British consumers want more information about the sustainability of packaging, with 9 in 10 wanting all packaging to be recyclable. 68% of UK shoppers said that their purchasing choices are influenced by packaging, with more people opting for cardboard over plastic packaging for the same product. These are significant results, and stats like these should urge companies to change their packaging in order to reduce their impact on the environment. 

How can we help this packaging problem?

Firstly, we can all cut out unnecessary packaging from the get-go by choosing products with little or no packaging. For example, choose loose fruit and vegetables rather than pre-packaged.  Zero waste shops encourage you to fill your own containers and jars with unpackaged goods, from loose tea leaves, to pulses and grains, and even washing detergents and toiletries. Check out these great independent zero waste shops in the UK!

Realistically, it’s difficult to avoid packaging altogether. Reusing the packaging you do buy is a great way to give it a second (or third!) life. Try reusing boxes, wrapping, containers, bags and packets for something useful. Why not try using your finished margarine tubs for lunch boxes? Or make your old jam jars into pretty tea lights? For some reuse inspiration, check out these great ideas on repurposing food packaging. 

And finally, when you’ve avoided excess packaging, and you’ve reused all you can, be sure to recycle packaging correctly, check the label and check your council’s waste and recycling information. Here at Jump, recycling is a big deal, and our schemes for local authorities reflect this.

We encourage residents to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as they can, and reward them for doing so. Whether we reduce plastic packaging, reuse and upcycle old packaging or keep up the recycling, the choice is ours. We can all keep up these small steps that contribute to a bigger positive impact. 

Have an eco-friendly Halloween!

We’re speeding through October, and Halloween is just around the corner. Get your pumpkins carved, your costumes sorted, and your sweet treats ready. Here we have a few tips on how to be conscious about your waste this Halloween.

Get creative with your costumes

Dressing up on Halloween can be great fun for all ages, and now is the time to get your creative hats on and think about your outfits. Whether you’re dressing up as a pirate, ghost, or even your favourite super hero, there are many ways you can make your Halloween eco-friendly. Reusing old costumes and swapping them between friends is a great way to avoid buying a new outfit each year. To take it one step further, why not try making your costume from things you already have around the house? From using the fabric of old clothes and rags, to creating props from your waste cardboard, there are many ways to give your waste a second life, Halloween style! For some spooky inspiration, view these great upcycling ideas here

Trick or treat?

Sweet treats are customary with trick or treating. If you are planning on giving out sweet treats this Halloween, why don’t you consider going plastic free? Rather than giving out sweets that are individually wrapped, opt for sweets that have less packaging, or even better, none at all! Keep your neighbours healthy and give out fruit as a healthy alternative – better for you and naturally wrapped by nature, win-win! 

Compost your carved pumpkins

Carving pumpkins is a Halloween must. Halloween is unfortunately known as The Festival of Food Waste. It is estimated that in the UK up to four million pumpkins are carved and displayed for Halloween. The edible flesh is usually discarded, ending up in landfill. According to the environmental charity Hubbub, pumpkin waste at Halloween equates to 360 million portions of pumpkin pie!  So once the fun is over and your pumpkins are looking a bit sad, make the most of them and compost them. Be sure to remove all candles and decorations before putting your pumpkins in your garden waste. For those with your own composting facilities, simply pop the pumpkins into your composting bin and reap the rewards of a nutrient rich soil for your garden! For more information about composting, click here. 

Happy Halloween!  

We can all make a difference.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a critical report earlier this month expressing serious concerns for the future of our planet as we know it. The world’s leading climate scientists warned that urgent and unprecedented changes are needed to limit climate change catastrophe. They even stated that we have just 12 years to keep global warming at a maximum of 1.5C above current temperatures. Beyond this ‘tipping point’, irreversible and disastrous effects would runaway including widespread drought, floods, extreme heat and poverty. Clearly, this is worrying stuff. 

As well as urging governments to make more radical decisions, these alarming warnings have sparked much debate on what should be done. How can we rapidly cut carbon emissions to halt reaching such tipping points? A multifaceted approach is essential, involving a rapid transition to renewable energy and various adaptive technologies such as carbon capture and storage. The report also highlights the role individuals can play – that we really can make a difference. If everyone made a few personal changes to their behaviour, the cumulative impact could be significant. Eating less meat, insulating our homes, switching to renewable energy, walking or cycling instead of driving as well as reducing, reusing, and recycling are key actions individuals can take to play their part in sustainability. 

In our Jump employee engagement programmes, we encourage staff to participate in as many sustainable actions as possible, to reduce their own environmental impact as well as helping to reduce their organisation’s impact. Programmes and activities are bespoke to each workplace, but we’ve come up with a list of top actions we can all take to make a difference;  

Have you done any of them yet? Tweet us on @teamjumpUK to let us know what positive changes you’ve made.  

Together, we can make a difference! To find out more about how our behaviour change programmes drive positive change through individual action, please get in touch on [email protected], or call us on 020 7326 5055.  

Will you have a plastic-free July?

It’s summer and it’s definitely hot out there – which means lots of us will be sipping ice cold drinks through plastic straws, grabbing plastic bottles of cold water on the go and picking up disposable cutlery or items packaged in plastic for picnics outside. In other words, there are a lot of single use plastic items that have become routine to use, but that you can easily take steps to avoid. This month is Plastic Free July, a campaign to raise awareness about the importance of ending our reliance on plastics, which has millions of participants across more than 150 countries worldwide today. Keep reading to find out what you can do to avoid plastics this July.   

Why refuse plastics? Plastics do not ever fully biodegrade and as we’ve seen from documentaries such as Blue Planet II and media coverage of divers swimming in plastic polluted seas – this plastic is detrimental to our land and marine ecosystems. It is estimated that since its introduction, around 6.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced worldwide only 9% of the plastic ever produced has been recycled – with almost all of it still in existence today. 

What can you do? It can seem overwhelming at first, and difficult to know where to start (once you realise that plastic items are everywhere!), but there are a lot of small changes you can make to reduce your reliance on plastic. Here are our 5 most important tips: 

  1. Invest in a reusable bottle and carry it with you everywhere you go! A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute – don’t let yours be one of them.
  2. Use a reusable shopping bag – with plastic bags costing you 5p and costing the planet every time you use one, it’s a no brainer! So no to single use plastic bags when you shop.
  3. Use a reusable a coffee cup to avoid disposable coffee cups which have a plastic film lining which prevents them from being recycled. Most coffee retailers now offer a discount when you bring your reusable cup so you can save money and do your bit for the planet! Click here to see where you can get the best discounts.
  4. Buy loose fruit and veg and other food items – buying your food loose and not in packaging will avoid single use plastic wrappers and save you money on your food shop, as big bags of fruit and veg cost you money when they inevitably go off before you can use them. Buying less, outside of plastic packets it cheaper and better for the planet.
  5. Carry around Tupperware boxes and reusable cutlery, which will allow you to be waste free while you eat on the go! Single use takeaway items such as plastic cutlery and takeaway containers can’t be recycled, and so every time you use them you add more waste to landfill or to our marine and land ecosystems. 

Reward your staff for reducing plastic use 

Our Jump programmes reward employees for their positive environmentally sustainable actions, such as reducing their plastic use. By using gamification, team and individual prizes and an innovative online platform and web app, Jump successfully creates mass engagement in environmental and wellbeing issues. At Swansea University Jump has helped employees save over £9,000 by using reusable cups, with over 36,000 disposable cups avoided!

For more information or to request a case study get in touch at [email protected]

Don’t dump! Tips on how to have a zero-waste spring clean

Finally, spring has finally sprung! Now the long, cold winter is over it’s time to emerge from your duvets, woolly scarves and hats and instead get out in your garden or start the inevitable spring clean out

It’s out with the old and in with the new, which is great for a fresh start, but not so great for our rubbish bins or our bank accounts. To avoid creating piles of avoidable waste or splashing out on a brand new wardrobe, garden or house makeover, make sure to follow our top tips for a zero waste Spring Clean:

1)      Clothes Clothes should never end up in your rubbish bin! If you find yourself with clothes or textiles you no longer want, you can donate them to charity, swap with a friend, or – if they can’t be worn – recycle them. You even make some extra cash by selling your clothes at a local car boot sale, or save money by repairing your old clothes instead of buying brand new ones. Click here for basic repair tips for your clothes. Click here to find your nearest textiles recycling bank

 2)      Garden There’s a lot of waste associated with gardening – both garden waste and electronic waste. Check with your local council to see what your garden waste collection process is for your grass cuttings, leaves, plants, weeds and hedge clippings. You might also come back to some of your trusty electronic garden tools to find they don’t work anymore. Before binning them, why not see if you can repair them first? Have a search for a local reuse and/or repair organisation near you, where you might be able to save yourself some cash by repairing an item or buying a second hand replacement. 

3)      Furniture Fly-tipping is spoils your local landscape and makes local animals and wildlife vulnerable to choking or getting caught up on plastic materials. Avoid having to dump items by looking up your nearest household waste and recycling centre where you can take your old furniture, or order a bulky waste collection. You can also save money on a brand new item, by upcycling your furniture into a new, unique piece. Click here for upcycling ideas!  Click here to find out where you can recycle a specific item 

4)      Electronics Electronic waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the UK. With the average person buying 3 new gadgets every year, it’s unsurprising that over 1 million tonnes of our gadgets are binned every year. So it’s really important to ask yourself a few questions before you upgrade an electronic item: 1) is my item broken? 2) Can I repair this item? 3) Can I buy my new item second hand? 4) How do I dispose of my old item correctly?

Click here to find out where you can recycle a specific electronic items 

Black Friday Bonanza – Read this before we sell out!!

It’s Black Friday – the day of the year where we all lose our heads at the sight of a sale sign and rush to buy more things we don’t need. Even worse for those of us sat at out computer screens, we’re inundated with emails and pop ups as every businesses under the sun tries to sell us this, that and the other.

Whilst we all love a good deal on our favourite products, the environmental impacts of Black Friday are undoubtedly quite serious and it is up to us to be responsible consumers while bargain hunting.

So we’ve come up with a list of easy things you can do to make sure you aren’t contributing to the vast amounts of waste being sent to landfill when you buy today and over the Black Friday weekend.


1.) Buy refurbished electronics

Electronic waste is predicted to reach 65.4 million tons by the end of 2017 and Black Friday is the biggest day of the year for buying new gadgets. You can find refurbished iPhones, laptops, tablets and more that are restored to perfect working order for less than half the price of their brand new originals. Now that’s a deal! Check out sites like envirofone.com.

2.) Use reuse sites

Looking for new clothes? The fashion industry was responsible for the emission of 1,715m tons of CO2 in 2015, about 5.45% of the 32.1bn tons of global carbon emissions in 2015. So it’s important to buy clothes that will last and look out for second hand buys where possible! Check out sites like eBayand reuse apps like Depop where there are thousands of on trend clothes for a much cheaper price than on the high street – and you can find unique pieces not available anywhere else! Here’s an even better idea – why not make some money this Black Friday (instead of losing it) by selling some of your own clothes online?

3.) Buy items with recyclable packaging

Every year during the Christmas period over 300,000 tonnes of cardboard packaging is thrown away! So if you’re splashing out this black Friday make sure to buy products that a) come in packaging that is recyclable and b) remember to recycle it when you’re done!

4.) Reduce

There is a reason reduce is at the top of the waste hierarchy – because you make the least damage to environment when you reduce the amount you buy. Every item bought has a carbon footprint behind it so think about what you buy, whether you really need it and how you plan to make it last so that it won’t end up in landfill within a couple of months.

Wasting clothes is out of fashion. Why more of us are recycling textiles.

The nation’s habits are changing! WRAP’s new report, Valuing our Clothes: The Cost of UK Fashion shows that as a country we are now putting less clothing and textiles into residual waste, and finding ways to re-use and recycle textiles instead. The report revealed that since 2012, 50,000 tonnes fewer items of clothing have been disposed of in household bins.

Fantastic news! And here’s why it’s such a big deal:

The true cost of cheap clothes is felt by the planet 

When it comes to clothes, our compulsion to buy cheap, break and then replace is actually a very costly process. Manufacturing clothes uses vast amounts of resources (it takes 1,800 gallons of water to make one pair of jeans!), not to mention the carbon emissions associated with the transport of these garments. WRAP estimates that extending the lifetime of 50% of UK clothing by nine months would save 8% carbon, 10% water and 4% waste, on a per-tonne basis. And from their report, it looks like consumers are starting to get the message.   

Landfill out of fashion – our values are changing 

WRAP’s research is significant because it indicates a rising trend towards adopting more sustainable behaviours. Not only are we sending less textiles to landfill, we are also taking actions to extend the life of our clothes, so we replace them less often. WRAP reports that in the UK, more people now wash their clothes at 30 degrees instead of 40 and use tumble dryers less frequently. These regular changes lead to approximately 700,000 tonnes less CO2 emissions in the UK each year. 

The Giants are awakening 

Increasingly, major clothing designers, brands, manufacturers, retailers and fashion houses are signing up to WRAP’s initiative: Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SCAP), which commits these companies to reporting on carbon, water and waste footprints of their clothing every year. Primark is the latest retailer to sign up to the SCAP initiative alongside AsdaAsosArcadiaTed BakerNext and JoJo Maman Bébé. Still more work to do Despite the positive feedback from WRAP’s report, the overall environmental footprint of UK clothing has risen by 2 million tonnes since 2012 and now stands at 26 million tonnes of CO2e, putting clothing fourth after housing, transport and food in terms of its impact on the environment. At Local Green Points we run recycling schemes to raise awareness about the importance of sending less waste to landfill, with modules focused on recycling and upcycling textiles. By rewarding sustainable behaviour changes, we successfully motivate and engage residents to reduce, re-use and recycle what they might have wasted.  

Find out more about our recycling rewards schemes here

5 surprising ways to re-use glass jars.

All the best things in life come in jars: peanut butter, Nutella, jam, olives, mayonnaise… the list goes on! But consuming these foods at the rate we do leave us with an awful lot of jars – with the average UK family getting through 500 glass bottles and jars annually. And while glass is a great sustainable material because it is 100% recyclable, we want to emphasise that sustainability is all about reducing, re-using and recycling in that order. So if, like me, you can’t bear the thought of reducing your peanut butter consumption, it’s time to get re-using! Here are some surprising, interesting and useful ways you can re-use your glass jars.

1.)    Re-use for other food storage

The first and most obvious way to re-use a jar is to store leftovers or other dry food. It’s a great substitute for harmful plastics and it looks so satisfying when you open your cupboards!

2.)    A vase

Is your room crying out for some decoration? Or could you simply do with some plants to improve air quality in your home? A glass jar is the perfect place to pot some flowers for a few days or even a pot a plant for the long term. 

3.)    Cocktail glasses

You can use your leftover jars to serve cocktails in the next time you have your friends over! Or pop your morning smoothie in! Everything looks better in a jar. Just look at these pictures if you don’t believe us…

4.)    Make your breakfast!

Avoid the morning rush to get some breakfast down you and make a jar of overnight oats, ready to grab n go in the morning!

Is there money in your rubbish?

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure – so the saying goes. An article recently published by Money Saving Expert suggests there could be some truth in this.  

Thrifty householders have been making money selling on their household waste, with toilet roll tubes, jam jars and coat hangers proving to be in high demand with those doing arts and crafts.  

If you’re thinking of flogging your rubbish, you’ll need to head to eBay to find your customers. Perfume bottles have been going for the highest price, of up to £8 a pop, while toilet roll and kitchen roll tubes sell for 10-16p per item. You’d better be prepared to collect your rubbish in bulk though, because it’s bundles of items that are selling. Over a 3 month period, the top rubbish sales on eBay included 492 bundles of coat hangers and 420 bundles of wine corks. Even 36 bundles of milk bottle tops sold during this time.   

Seeing some value in rubbish is a great way to challenge our perceptions of household waste. While hoarding your waste to sell online may not be for everyone, most of the items listed can be easily recycled from your kerbside containers to prevent waste of these valuable materials.

For more information on what can be recycled and where, check Recycle Now. If you can find a market for your unwanted rubbish, think what you can do with good quality items from around the home, like electronics and furniture, that you no longer need. Head to eBay or Gumtree to sell these on. Alternatively, try free local reuse sites Freegle and Freecycle or donate to a local charity shop if you want to clear these items out without asking for money. 

Summer sustainability

The hot weather we’ve been enjoying recently has turned our attention to sustainability during the summer months. We’ve come up with a few tips to help you be as green as possible this summer:

 Invest in a reusable BBQ to cut down on the waste and cost of disposables. Even if you plan to make the most of the summer cooking at the beach or your local park, plan ahead and pack up a small reusable BBQ and some charcoal. Whether you’re out enjoying picnics and BBQs or hosting a summer party, a lot of us will spend time this summer eating outside with friends and family.

To avoid food waste, check how many people will be joining you before you head to the shops – and coordinate before hand to make sure you don’t end up bringing 5 of the same dish. If you do end up with leftovers, it’s handy to store food in a reusable container to enjoy the next day.   

During the summer months you’re more likely to be keeping your garden in shape. Make sure you know how to recycle your garden waste to stop it from adding to your general waste. You could try home composting, using a garden waste collection service or visiting your local recycling centre. If you’re not sure what to do with your garden waste, check out Recycle Now.  

It’s also important to consider reusing other resources, such as water. You can save water by installing a water butt to collect rainfall which can later be used to water your plants and keep your garden alive during the hot summer months. 

Rather than planning an extravagant holiday abroad, you could try out a ‘staycation’, a holiday spent closer to home. You’ll save money and cut down the carbon emissions from travelling abroad – instead you’ll get to try out loads of local attractions and days out.

Spring clean: Clothes

Every week we are impressed by the commitment of our members to recycling everything they can, from paper to electronics, plastics to garden waste!

Alongside filling up your recycling containers each week, there are a number of ways you can get creative with recycling to repurpose your old and unwanted things. With winter behind us and March well underway, learn how to turn your trash into treasure in time for a Spring Clean.

Start your clear out in your bedroom. There are loads of ways to clear out the old clothes filling up your wardrobe:

  • If there are any clothes you don’t want to keep, simply donate them to a charity shop to make sure they go to a good cause.
  • If you’re clearing out your winter clothes to make space for a summer wardrobe, make the most of high street rewards for donating old clothes. You can donate a bag of any unwanted clothes to H&M for a £5 voucher to redeem when you spend £30 in store.
  • Similarly, when you donate an item of Marks & Spencer’s branded clothing to Oxfam you will receive a £5 voucher to redeem when you spend £35 in M&S. This is the perfect way to give a little back before you buy something new.
  • If you have more than a bag-full of unwanted, good quality clothing, why not have a car-boot sale? This is a great way to make a bit of profit on your unwanted clothes.
  • If a 6am start in the cold isn’t for you, you could try selling your old clothes online from the comfort of your home. Gumtree and eBay and are good places to start. You can even think a lot bigger than clothes – these sites are great for shifting used furniture and electronics too.
  • If your friends or colleagues want to refresh their wardrobes too you should organise a clothes swap event. Your old clothes could be just what someone else is looking for.