Lyreco’s Green Friday
This year, we’re celebrating Green Friday!
Originally starting as just a one-day event marking the start of the festive shopping season, Black Friday has become a national phenomenon positioning itself as one of the busiest days in the calendar with a week of deals, giveaways, and promotions. ‘Cyber Monday’ has also been popularised as an extra day of deals driven by increasing consumer interest. However, research has discovered that this event has detrimental effect on the environment, with mass consumption, unnecessary purchases and speedy supply chain expectations fuelling the destruction of our planet.
During Black Friday 2020, consumers spent more than ever* and in the UK alone, Black Friday 2020 emitted 429,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions—that’s the equivalent of 435 return flights from London to New York**. Making last year’s event the most polluting ever.
With the rise of online shopping, now accounting for 35.2% of all purchases***, more items are requiring shipping which directly correlates to in an increase in unrecyclable packaging. As well as this, more delivery vans on the road during the annual event leading to a massive increase in CO2 emissions
That’s why this year at Lyreco we have decided to make
Black Friday, Green Friday.
Our aim this year, is to prevent over consumption and promote greener alternatives. Many of our products are made from recycled materials, are FSC and Green Tree Certified, use eco-friendly materials and have responsible environmental footprints.
We are very proud to always put social responsibility and green initiatives at the top of our agenda; making sure everything we do supports our “eco ethos”. We hope that the changes we are making to our Black Friday event can be the catalyst to so many more positive changes in your workplace. Helping you and your teams shop more efficiently, and eco-friendly.
To help inspire your workplace further, here are just a few ways we stay green:
Lyreco Bees: We encourage bio-diversity awareness and protection through 5 on-site Avery’s, eco-garden and insect hotel.
Lyreco Electric Vehicle: In line with our CSR Strategy, and our goal to be completely carbon neutral by 2030, we’re excited to be the first
multinational company to welcome 17 all-electric light commercial vehicles to our London fleet. This means we’re able to ensure our packages from our London depots are delivered quickly, efficiently, and sustainably as possible – with zero fuel emissions.
Lyreco Solar Panels: We have installed 14,000 panels which in 2020 generated 3.09 million Kw/h of green energy – making us home to one of the UK’s largest rooftop solar arrays, ensuring all our UK bases are powered by renewable sources.
Lyreco Energy Carbon Neutral: Since 2010 we have cut our total tonnes of CO2 by 57%. New initiatives such as our REGO powered sites and the development of our electric van fleet will continue this trend and help us to achieve Carbon Neutral by 2030.
Lyreco Recycling: We recycle and reuse as much as we can, with 63% of our waste in 2020 being reused. We offer services for many businesses including recycling for ink & toners, batteries, 15 litre water bottles, Nespresso Professional capsules and shredding & secure document destruction.
Learn more about how we can you achieve your sustainability goals here.
Green Friday is just the beginning…
Choosing to be mindful about your purchasing decisions you make throughout the year is just as important as shopping sensibly during Black Friday. Your buying habits have a huge impact on your environmental footprint, and small changes can make a massive difference!
That’s why our green products are celebrated all year round. You can find over 2,450 number of green alternatives across all categories across our Webshop. Simply look out for the Lyreco Green Tree Symbol, and FSC icons. To find out more about the green credentials of a particular product, all you have to do is head to the product description on their dedicated pages.
***ONS.gov.uk – As of January 2021
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