Nestlé employees joined forces for a clean-up event at Clifton Nature Reserve on 26th March as part of the Great British Spring Clean campaign. Together the colleagues collected just under 20 bags of litter, including scooters, half a snow globe and some false teeth.
The Great British Spring Clean, organised by Keep Britain Tidy, is the nation's biggest litter pick campaign and runs from the 15–31 March. Nestlé has been a proud supporter of this initiative for the past four years, which compliments its ambition for none of its packaging waste to end up as landfill or litter. Through the partnership, Nestlé Confectionery contributed to funding the campaign, hosted the organised clean-up event in York, ran posts across its brands’ social media and encouraged its own employees to pledge volunteer time to litter-picking activity.
The campaign has got off to a great start, as #LitterHeroes across the country have already pledged to pick up 406,954 bags. In 2023, 105 Nestlé colleagues pledged to pick 228 bags of litter and dedicated 322 hours to litter picking.
Sustainability Manager for Nestlé Confectionery, Rosamunde Barnett, said: “We know that food wrappers play a significant role in litter across the UK and at Nestlé Confectionery we’re determined to do our bit to tackle that. We’ve got an ambition for none of our packaging waste to end up as landfill or litter and we’re committed to achieving it.
“The Great British Spring Clean is an important part of our journey towards the ambition, which also sees us removing unnecessary packaging from our products, adapting materials to make sure they’re recyclable and supporting projects to boost recycling infrastructure in the UK.”
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Chief Executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: “The Great British Spring Clean is all about empowering and encouraging communities to take action. We are so pleased that colleagues from Nestlé have volunteered their time to show some love for Clifton Backies, a green space in the heart of York.
“By collaborating on this campaign, Nestlé are demonstrating that they take their packaging and community responsibilities seriously and helping us to recruit an army of people – their staff and consumers included – to take action to protect the places they live, work and play.”
The Great British Spring Clean campaign runs from the 15th to the 31st of March 2024. Keep Britain Tidy, celebrating its 70th year, is encouraging more people than ever before to support the initiative. In 2023, approximately 350,000 volunteers across the country collected over 400,000 bags of litter from streets, parks, and beaches, highlighting the significant impact of the campaign.
Information
For more information on how to get involved and to pledge time to the campaign, visit: www.keepbritaintidy.org/gbspringclean #GBSpringClean