Foodservice Footprint IMG_0599 No more plastic bags, says Sodexo Defence Best Practice

No more plastic bags, says Sodexo Defence

Preventing waste is one of the key priorities for Sodexo. Every October the company holds WasteLESS Week (22-26th) a global initiative to encourage its teams to find ways to reduce the amount of waste generated from its operations.

This year, in an effort to reduce the impact of its retail operations on the environment, Sodexo’s defence business has used WasteLESS Week to mark the removal of single use plastic bags from all of its retail shops in the UK and Cyprus.

Sodexo’s defence business is one of the highest users of single use plastic carrier bags through the retail shops it manages on military bases. Over the last 12 months over 300,000 plastic carrier bags were provided to its customers.  To ensure a smooth transition Sodexo has communicated its move to its customers in the month leading up to change which took effect from Monday 22 October.

Earlier this year Sodexo banned the purchase of plastic straws and stirrers from its business and made the commitment to phase out single use plastic bags and polystyrene foam items such as cups, lids and food containers by 2020.  The removal of single use plastic bags by Sodexo’s defence business is a significant step in phasing out their use completely from its operations in the UK and Ireland.

Edwina Hughes, CR Director, Sodexo UK & Ireland said: “Every year we are delighted with the engagement we receive from our teams across the business for WasteLESS Week, this year we decided to focus our efforts on continuing the work we had done centrally to reduce the use of single use plastics in our business.

“We were thrilled to hear from our colleagues in our Defence business that they had decided to use the week to remove single use plastics bags from their retail operations as this area of the business was one of the biggest users. This will have a significant impact on our commitment to reduce plastic usage in our business and we congratulate them for taking this important step.”

With a target to foster a culture of environmental responsibility within our workforce and workspaces, as well as championing sustainable resource usage, WasteLESS Week is just one way that Sodexo is tackling its Better Tomorrow 2025 commitments.