The solution is less pollution!

We see the word ‘environment’ everywhere. Helping improve the environment is a subject in every newspaper and many a news headline. It’s on everyone’s agenda. Be it plastics, palm oil, rainforests, saving water and energy, this is something we are all part of, whether we like it not, looking after our planet secures the future for generations to come.

Tina Gleed looks at businesses innovating change for the better.

Chris Forbes founder of The Cheeky Panda is up first: “Plastic is one of the biggest problems for the environment in the UK today, smaller companies are leading the way with innovative green solutions. “Larger companies are planning to replace plastic within the next 15- 35 years, meanwhile 12 billion tons of additional plastic will end up in landfill and the environment. In the last 10 years we have produced more plastic than we did in the entire previous century. So what can be done about this? “There is a trend for natural organic products and packaging, but change is hard and takes time.

With predictions that in 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish, there is a matter of urgency for companies to be making drastic changes to their plastic usage. It’s the innovative green start-ups like The Cheeky Panda that can show the big companies how it should be done. “Small and agile in the market these green start-ups were founded on the sole purpose of doing what is right for the people. These are the game changers who innovate, whereas companies and supermarkets face great challenges in redesigning packaging and supply chains that can add years onto an eco-projects completion.”

The Cheeky Panda is a sustainable tissue company that transforms bamboo, the world’s fastest growing plant into a range of toilet tissue products, facial tissues, hand towels and kitchen rolls. They have a growing team supporting B2B and retail with offices in London and sales of £1m a year. As well as using an ultra-sustainable source for a traditional FMCG product, they also donate money for every purchase to saving the rainforest.

The company is based around sustainability and has just launched a new bio-degradable plastic on all packaging. This intelligent plastic breaks down the molecular structure that it is no longer a plastic and it biodegrades in the same way a leaf does when it is exposed to water and sunlight. They are implementing this packaging across their range of toilet tissue, facial tissue and kitchen towels.

Forbes says, “for us it’s all about the environment and the future and, if we can give people a great product as well, then everyone wins” Innovation from companies like The Cheeky Panda can inspire buyers within the larger companies and supermarkets to adopt more environmental style packaging within the next few years rather than the next 20 years. The Cheeky Panda are thrilled to introduce their latest innovation. Their new venture is a bundle of plastic free luxury tissue products of six toilet rolls, two kitchen rolls and one box of facial tissues available now.

“The cleaning industry might not
sound like the most
environmental or ‘green’ industry
out there, but we’re really
committed to changing that…”

(continued in full article)…

You’ll find the full article in the September / October edition of Housekeeping Today UK. Subscribe for your edition or browse online here.

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