• Paragon takes important step towards eliminating plastic pollutants
• Specialist lender issues reusable water bottles to all staff
• The business will no longer purchase single-use plastic cups

Paragon has issued all 1,300 employees with a reusable water bottle in a move to slash plastic waste in its business.

Last year alone, Paragon produced 356 tonnes of waste of which 154 tonnes was sent to landfill, as stated in its Annual Report.

Each employee will be provided with a reusable water bottle from 10 June 2019, meaning single use plastic cups will no longer be needed.

Furthermore, as the new water bottles are made from a recyclable PET material, they are suitable for daily use and will help sustain the environment by eliminating the need for disposal in landfill sites.

Paragon, which has its head office in Solihull in the West Midlands, used 256,000 single use plastic cups from January 2018 to January 2019. To put this into perspective, if you stacked them up the resultant tower would be taller than almost three Burj Khalifa’s put together – the tallest building in the world located in Dubai.

The idea to issue all Paragon bank staff with reusable water bottles was the brainchild of employee Aikta Varma, Reporting & Projects Accountant and a member of Paragon’s People Forum.

She said: “I raised the suggestion of individual water bottles after observing people using multiple plastic water cups a day, which isn’t great for the environment. Megan Jones, my People Forum rep, responded positively and enthusiastically to the idea and it is great to see that together we’ve worked towards making a difference to our environment.

“It will reduce the amount of plastic we use as a company and a have positive influence on the environment more generally.”

Megan said the People Forum was able to bring the project to life with the support of Keith Allen, Group Financial Controller and External Relations Director Deborah Bateman.

They said: “The more we can do to reduce waste not only helps to reduce our business impact on the environment but also reduces our purchasing costs and the costs associated with disposing of waste.

“During the next 12 months reducing energy consumption and the amount of waste we send to landfill will become a key strategy for Group Property.”

20 June 2019