Enviral X Greenpeace UK – The Big Plastic Count

We’re big on collaboration here at Gather Round, and that stretches beyond just member to member. So of course we wanted to shout about the latest work produced by Cigar Factory members’ Enviral for Greenpeace.

The UK’s biggest investigation into our plastic waste, Greenpeace wanted to create a nationwide campaign that investigates our plastic usage. The aim was to pressure the government into reducing single-use packaging by 50% and ban plastic waste exports by 2025. Long-time GR members and sustainability comms experts Enviral partnered with The Big Plastic Count, in an effort to get people to think, feel and do. To think about where their recycling actually goes, to feel fired up and the satisfaction of positive, collective actions and to do the plastic tallying needed for the investigation.

Practising sustainability as a collective action is a core belief at Enviral. So, creating a campaign that holds this as a central theme was a natural choice for the team. Working with the The Big Plastic Count crew, Enviral developed the creative, the narrative and oversaw the shoot productions to create three hard-hitting films; a launch film, a how-to film and a shocking results film which puts pressure on the government to act.

This campaign was one that needed everyone’s help, and this meant Enviral made sure the language, visuals and content were accessible, appropriate and engaging to the audience. Creatively, in order to inspire the nation to take action, it was vital to show a range of different families and individuals in settings which felt relevant and familiar to them. This was achieved through careful consideration and thorough scouting. Actors were asked to bring in their personal family portraits and cultural items as a special touch of authenticity.

Through their launch video, The Big Plastic Count and Enviral encouraged 31 MPs and 97,948 households to take part in counting their plastic for a week in May; which equates to 1 in every 262 households in the UK.

Throughout the investigation, participants counted over 96 billion pieces of plastic and uncovered that only 12% of our plastic waste is actually recycled with 17% exported abroad, 25% sent to landfill and 46% incinerated. This was the biggest ever investigation into UK household plastics and the data uncovered will be crucial in convincing the government, big brands and supermarkets to take ambitious action on reducing plastic packaging.

Congrats on the amazing work Enviral, Greenpeace UK & The Big Plastic Count!

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