On 25th March two of our leading sustainability consultants led a sold-out session at the Greater Manchester Green City Summit on reducing plastic waste.

The event took part in the Public Sector Space in parallel with the wider GM Green Summit, with the space focusing on inspiring the public sector to respond to the 2038 carbon reduction targets, and to encourage the realisation of the social and economic benefits a healthy, green and clean environment brings.

The aim of the session was to inspire others to act, and to encourage attendees to come up with ideas for how to implement actions within their own organisations. Attendees were challenged to identify what their organisations could do to reduce waste, remove plastic and procure more sustainably throughout their supply chains.

The head of our Manchester office, and our Sustainable Business lead Mark Hilton and Senior Consultant Alex Forrest led one of six sub-sessions, which focused on reducing plastic waste.
Mark said:

“It was fantastic to see so much engagement and enthusiasm from everyone we spoke to across the event. There is a real desire to put Manchester at the forefront of the action being taken to reduce single-use plastic, and it was good to be able to talk through the different ideas that were brought to the table.”

The GM Green City Summit saw Greater Manchester Combined Authority launch its 5-Year Environment Plan, which sets out the city’s vision to be carbon neutral by 2038, and is the outcome of twelve months of collaboration.

Other representatives at the group included Manchester Metropolitan University, the Environment Agency and Suez.

Mark continued:

“It’s great to see GM’s 5-Year Environment Plan coming into force, and to see the results of collaborations between local authorities, businesses and the public coming together to form a cohesive plan for the city’s future. We are especially excited to work with businesses across the city to help them incorporate the plan successfully into their business models.”

Find out more about the GM Green City Summit, including a summary of the 5-Year Environment Plan, here.