News & events

Reduce-reuse-recycle is more than just a catchy mantra, rather it can form the basis of an effective strategy for avoiding plastic waste. For businesses of all sizes, avoiding unnecessary plastics consumption and switching to reusable materials is an important step when working towards an environmentally friendly future.

Our client Trevira GmbH is an innovative European manufacturer of international renown. They produce high-value branded fibres and filament yarns for technical applications and hygiene products as well as for home textiles, automotive interiors, and functional apparel. Their commitment to operating in an environmentally conscious manner has led them to create a wide range of sustainable versions of their products, with a focus on using recycled materials.

The modern era has been dubbed the ‘Plastic Age’ by scientists who have found plastic pollution is now being deposited into the fossil record. An audit of waste plastic conducted by Greenpeace and Break Free from Plastic highlighted the huge extent to which businesses are contributing to our plastic crisis. However, it’s not just the producers of plastic products, or products packaged in plastic, who need to reevaluate their plastic impact. If we are to turn the tide on this global waste crisis, then all businesses need to take stock and take action to ensure that they are both reducing their use of plastic and responsibly managing their plastic waste.

An ambitious textiles project to regenerate the land, economy, and community of the North West

Since the BBC aired Blue Planet 2 in 2017, the conversation around the use of plastics has continued to hit the headlines with increasing regularity and is of growing concern to consumers and governments alike. The UN Environment Programme estimates that plastics constitute “as much as 95 percent of the marine litter found on coastlines, the sea surface, and the ocean floor”. And when it comes to plastics it is packaging which is the biggest culprit, with the UK alone producing over 2 million tonnes of plastic packaging every year. Given the gravity of the global plastics crisis, businesses can no longer assume that unsubstantiated claims, pledges, or pacts around their use of plastic will be enough to secure the public’s trust in their brand. Now more than ever they need to prove the ways in which they are cutting the use of plastic and adopting alternative, compostable, materials through a robust certification process.

Control Union UK has been approved by the Department for Transport (DfT) to provide verification against the Responsible Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) scheme and is now providing this service to major fuel suppliers.