The Story Behind the Earth Day Toolkit
The Story Behind the Earth Day Toolkit: Why Engagement Matters More Than Ever
I spent just shy of seven years at Amazon and yes – it could be a fairly intense place to work but, honestly I enjoyed it.
I look back at my journey from the Fulfilment Centre (FC) shopfloor to my time in WW Sustainability, and I recognise how pivotal my role in FC was to that work.
Amazon was intended as a temporary job while I tried to find something more meaningful, impactful, and in support of the environment. So, when the Sustainability Ambassadors program was launched some six months after I later, I thought “oh, maybe this is why I’m here?”
This Sustainability Ambassador volunteer program sparked something in me – that very opportunity to make a difference.
My HR role gave me the opportunity to connect with so many people across the FC – from inbound and outbound, to RSP (Receive, Stow, Pick – I worked in a Robotics site) and support functions like engineering, health & safety, and housekeeping. It helped me grow familiar with what all these functions did and how they impacted each other. This proved to be crucial when it came to sustainability projects that would involve people from multiple teams.
It also gave me the confidence to ask the question “what issues are you seeing that we could change?”
The thing that surprised me the most was the flood of information I got from so many different teams:
“This multipack of coca cola has a can missing, but we’re told we have to throw the rest away even though they’re fine”
“All this food is just wasted, and we have to throw it in the bin. Is there something else we can do with it?”
“The general waste has tons of this waste stream and we’re not segregating it – I’m not sure where to start but we have to do something”
It made me realise just how many people really cared – it wasn’t just me with my nerdy love of nature and deep desire to be one of Captain Planet’s Planeteers - everyday people saw this was an issue and wanted to make the change!
The issue? They just didn’t know where to start.
Truthfully? Neither did I!
But I worked hard to figure it out - or at least, find someone in the sustainability who could help!
We arranged donations runs, had recalled food waste sent to biomass, set up new waste segregation and recycling – it was a full team effort!
I then worked with our two sister-sites (Ours? Theirs!) to set up their Sustainability Ambassador teams. They had fantastic people driving sustainability and between us, we organised milk-round collections for single-stream waste (a segregated waste stream of one source). Not only did it mean each site only had a third of the total waste quota to collect, but it also meant that we could reduce the number of trucks on the road, as one truck would visit all three sites back-to-back.
It's initiatives like this that, in reality, aren’t that complicated, that start moving the needle. It empowers people to make real change.
When I moved from my FC role into the Sustainability Ambassadors program manager role, I was tasked with managing the Ambassadors for EU – I’d inherited 20 teams (including my three from around Manchester). I took all my learnings and understanding of FC life with me.
I knew how busy our teams were – from the moment they walked into site at the start of their shift, their day were already mapped out. This was a huge factor when it came to developing accessible content, tasks, requests, responsibilities – obligations even – of the Ambassador role.
For example, the work that went in to understanding the donations process, who should be the owner, how to find a suitable charity, all the processes and paperwork and approvals that needed to be done just so this thing could happen… it’s enough to make you want to close your laptop and walk away.
I knew that to put that much work into setting up a new process would either require a dedicated headcount (never going to happen!), or a way to massively reduce the mental load of managing a project like that.
My only real option?
Reduce the mental load.
While at Amazon, I created playbooks – simple event guides with actionable information and links to generic, blank poster templates. And it changed the Ambassadors program. It changed how seriously the program was taken, how accessible it became, and how many people then got involved.
It empowered people to make changes at a local level. Sustainability became simple.
Sustainability became achievable.
Earth Day is an incredible opportunity to empower people.
Earth Day was always the big event for the year for the Ambassadors – and people go so into it!
As I took this new journey outside of Amazon with The Sustainability Consultancy, I wanted to take my lessons learned from the Ambassadors to SMEs.
At its heart, TSC is about educating, engaging, and empowering people. For us, Earth Day is a shining example of how “fluffy engagement pieces” can be a core date in the calendar that marks systemic change in any business.
Announce your sustainability goals.
Launch your Green Teams.
Shine a spotlight on all those people going above and beyond for sustainability.
After all, if Amazon can do it – anyone can!
Earth Day for SMEs: Beyond the One-Day Pledge
1. Make it simple and accessible – ready-made activities, plug and play comms and social media assets, and impact tracking tools make participation and scaling the event super easy!
2. Tie it to a broader strategy or goal – for example UN Sustainable Development Goal 13 is all about climate action. Earth Day focuses on raising awareness and action against climate change – just like SDG 13! Meanwhile, UN SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production, encourages sustainable business practices, reducing waste and making supply chains greener – great for an education piece for corporate Earth Day efforts!
3. Green teams = impact! – Green teams don’t just plan events like Earth Day, they drive real change year-round. Did you know that companies with active Green Teams (like the Sustainability Ambassadors!) see:
· 16% higher employee engagement
· 28,500 tonnes of CO2 saved
· Over 559, 902 verified sustainability actions completed
And this is only scratching the surface!
Sustainability on a Budget: Simple Actions for SMEs This Earth Day
Whether you’re planning on hosting an event or you really want to roll out a new recycling strategy – sustainability doesn’t have to be as expensive or laborious as you think.
There are many amazing companies out there that take hard-to-recycle waste, but they can come at a significant cost. This can be prohibitive for an SME who isn’t seeing high enough levels of waste to warrant that cost.
So, look elsewhere – is there a social enterprise that’s doing something different? Like the Crisp Packet Project in Manchester, or the Repair Café if you have items that can be mended and donated instead of thrown away.
Or check out our Earth Day toolkit if you want to inspire action while reducing the load of having to host an event with little to no experience.
Earth Day and Scope 3 Emissions: The Missing Piece for SMEs
Did you know that in the UK, SMEs account for around 30% of the total C02 emissions for the country?
That’s huge! Please don’t think for a second the impact you’d have would be so negligible that it would be irrelevant.
It’s like, if you give money to charity, you’re not expected to give all your money to that charity so they can do the best they possibly can with it. You only have to give a small amount, and the next person will do their bit, and the person next to them will do the same and so on.
All these small actions can really add up to big changes!
And that small amount that you give, you realise you could do a little bit more and its slightly easier now because you’ve already started – it’s the same with reducing emissions!
I could write a whole post about this particular topic… and I probably will!
While it’s really important for SMEs to do their bit to reduce their carbon footprint, its also going to be really important for SMEs to report on what they’re doing as part of the supply chain.
As more big businesses are mandated to produce sustainability reports, the pressure will come down on SMEs to be transparent with their environmental and sustainability goals.
Earth Day is a fantastic opportunity for any business to launch their sustainability strategy.
So, if you’ve been thinking about sustainability but don’t know where to start - why not make Earth Day your launchpad? Let’s make it count!