Climate Action from the Allia team
Here at Allia, we talk a lot about our mission to create a positive impact for people, place and planet… But what does our team do in their personal lives to play their part in saving the planet? After all, it’s the small things that go towards making a big difference.
Andrew Brisbin – Director of Ventures
Working with different climate tech founders on the Climate Accelerator programme gives me hope for the future, as brilliant minds are coming together to provide innovative solutions to aspects of life that I hadn’t even thought of. Find out more on the programme helping climate start-ups reach their goals.
Laura Rose – Head of Marketing and Communications
I took an online pledge a couple of years ago to stop buying single use plastics, and I keep this up as much as I possibly can. It makes me more aware of trying to buy vegetables loose instead of prepacked and avoiding buying drinks in plastic bottles. While it is a small step, it still results in less plastic going into landfill or the sea.
Abi Pickard – Finance Trainee
As a family, we’ve introduced different ways for the whole family to help the planet. We use this reward chart to encourage the girls to recycle – the stickers are reusable too.
My daughter Aurelia is a recycling machine, forever asking which types of packaging can be recycled or reused – and we have many craft sessions with milk bottles and toilet rolls.
We all try our best to walk whenever we can rather than using the car. When we take Joey (the dog) out for a walk in the woods we’ll take a rubbish bag to collect any litter we see as well.
Omadelle Charles-Bailey – Peterborough Centre Manager
As a Latin American, I am quite passionate about the Amazon Rainforest, which makes up about a quarter of my country. It is truly heart breaking to see how the rainforest is being destroyed on an astronomical scale to facilitate the large cattle farms which are being set up to satisfy the world’s ever-growing consumption of beef. As a direct result, I have drastically reduced my consumption of beef and am raising my boys in the same way.
Livia Whitermore – Programme Associate
Ever since joining Allia’s Climate Accelerator Programme team, I have become extra focused on climate-related migration. I completed a master’s degree in migration policy some years ago and while my focus at the time was political refugees, now, after completing further research, I am happy to say that I understand more about climate migration too.
Sophie Fryer – Marketing Communication Officer
It’s a bloody awkward topic but let’s talk about it. About 2 years ago I took the jump and decided to try the menstrual cup as an eco-alternative to the mainstream sanitary products I had previously used.
Did you know…?
- It is estimated that a sanitary towel is made of up to 90% plastic.
- A year’s worth of a typical menstrual product comes with a carbon footprint of 5.3kg CO2 equivalent.
- The disposal of single use menstrual products generates 200,000 tonnes of waste per year.
- 2 billion of these items are flushed down toilets each year (causing blockages and making their way to the sea and washed up on beaches!)
- It can take 500 years for pads and tampons to degrade, which can harm thousands of sea creatures every day.
Not only do I feel I am playing my part in making a positive difference to the planet, but my bank account thanks me too. ‘Women are estimated to spend an average of £13 a month on period products’ says The Guardian. At the time, the menstrual cup cost me £12.99 – so over 2 years, I have saved roughly £300 by swapping to a more eco alternative!
I know they are not for everyone, but I took a chance and now I wouldn’t go back.
Natalie Boyle – Group Financial Controller
I started buying our fruit and veg from the local farm during lockdown. The fruit and veg is mostly loose without plastic, which means I can buy exactly what I need and reduce waste.
David Broach – Director of Centres
After explaining to my daughters why we recycle and how challenging it can be (conversation proceeded down a rabbit hole of ‘wish-cycling’) – my girls took it upon themselves to create a crisp packet recycling point at home! Our local Co-op recycles soft plastics (including crisp packets) so we now make regular drop offs – we eat a lot of crisps! It’s the little things that can make a big difference and instilling this mindset in the next generation is so important.
Martin Clark – CEO and Group Director of Impact
I try to integrate eco-friendly steps across my routine. I cycle as much as possible instead of driving and, where I do have to drive, I’m looking into more sustainable options. Allia is investigating the government’s electric car leasing scheme that makes it more affordable for employees to lease an electric car, for example. I plan to make the swap from diesel to electric through this. I’ve also committed to taking a maximum of one flight a year, so I have to plan my travel carefully around this.
My daughter’s climate actions also really inspire me. She makes an effort to buy as much as she can from zero waste shops.
Claire Simsek – Startup Coach for Peterborough
We grew a lot of food in our small garden during Covid. Our food awareness increased with the shortages, so we made an edible garden by looking after small seedlings, right to the stage where we cropped and stored the fruit and veg for later use and composted the leftover plant matter. We went on to raise funds for my daughter through Just Giving so she could self-build a garden room, re-using and recycling what we could. It’s now a fab space for her to relax and create, though we’ve lost a large part of our outdoor space! With this in mind, I’ve secured an allotment at our local site and, with the kids help, have started a windowsill nursery. As the weather becomes brighter, we will be working together to develop the site and plant seedlings outside.
The Big Plastic Count
Everyone at Allia takes their own personal steps to being more sustainable, but one project we’re hoping to take on together is The Big Plastic Count. In this UK wide project, households, schools and individuals are tracking exactly how much plastic they throw away to prove how big the plastic crisis really is. Together, we can push the government, brands and supermarkets take meaningful action and commit to reducing single use plastics by 50% by 2025. You can sign up here to join us and over 64,000 others in the UK’s biggest plastic investigation from May 16th-22nd 2022.
Looking to develop your business to deliver a climate positive impact? Learn more about the Allia Climate Accelerator programme and flexible workspace solutions to facilitate your businesses climate actions.