The first UK company to receive SUPER® certification

Plastic pollution and microplastics contaminate our food, our drinking water, our oceans, our rain, our soil, and all ecosystems, while plastic chemicals are found in the blood of our new-born babies. Unless we take action, the World Economic Forum predicts that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.

Office Freedom is delighted and very proud to be the first UK company ever to receive Certification by SUPER® (Single-use Plastics Eradication and Reduction) a non-profit company based in the San Francisco Bay area committed to single use plastic elimination or reduction.

What is SUPER®?

SUPER® help businesses:

Calculate their single-use plastic footprint
Reduce it by advising on actionable pathways towards potentially more economical alternatives, including connecting to a marketplace of vetted alternatives to single-use plastics
Obtain certification.

Find out more about SUPER® here.

Office Freedom and SUPER®

Earlier this year Office Freedom decided that it wanted to take some practical steps to reduce the use of single use plastics throughout the organisation. We embarked on the SUPER® certification process for offices that has three simple steps. The process is easy, actionable, and a great way to engage employees and customers.

Step 1 – Discovery: Onboarding, Assessment, Workshop.

Step 2 – Sprint: Set Goals and Plan, Engage and Reduce, Measure and Iterate.

Step 3 – Certification: Assessment, Certification.

Plastic pollution is expected to double in the next 20 years

Legislative and societal pressures mean now is the right time for this effort. Plastic pollution has reached alarming proportions.

Plastic production surged to 368 million tons a year in 2019 and has been increasing year on year.
It is expected to double over the next 20 years.
Half of plastics now produced are single use, designed to become only garbage.
A staggering 32% of these plastics escape collection and become plastic pollution.

Plastic Reduction - Economic Benefits
(USA based research by SUPER®)

58% of people want to reduce plastic in their lives.
90% of consumers would switch brands to support a cause they care about
$320 – Annual savings per employee when switching to plastic-free hydration
$12b - Paid yearly by US businesses to dispose of plastic waste

Sustainability Sells

Certifications are becoming increasingly more important to businesses as they identify to the consumer that the claims made regarding sustainability are legitimate and not ‘greenwashed’.

‘Greenwashing’ is when companies use puffery or deception in their marketing practices to place their business in the sustainable category, when their actual practices are not in alignment. According to the Rainforest Alliance, more than 90% of global consumers surveyed, say they want companies to address social and environmental issues. Further, they reported that 98% of businesses who used sustainability standards reported sales and marketing-related benefits.