Waves of change
Schroders steps up single-use plastic awareness efforts during Climate Week
This week, Schroders announced an initiative around Climate Week in New York City to increase awareness around the harmful and mostly unnecessary use of single-use plastic on our environment by unveiling marine life replicas made from the single-use plastic waste collected from its New York office. Positioned in full view outside Schroders’ New York Bryant Park office main entrance in the water fountain, these animal figures represent the damage that single-use plastic has on marine life and the pollution they bring to the planet.
Schroders launched its plastic animals initiative in its global headquarters in London to showcase the amount of single-use plastics our office uses and the impact it has on the environment. The New York leadership team and employees alike felt strongly about reproducing the initiative in the US and to make the activity hands-on with employees collecting and building replicas to bring more awareness to the issue of single-use plastics and other waste on all marine life. This is a grassroots employee-led initiative focused on making an impactful change to individual behaviors.
It is estimated that at least eight[1] million tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans each year, over 16%[2] of seabirds in the world have become snared in plastic while 75%[3] of seabirds have ingested plastic at some time. All waterways are impacted and feed into the plastic crisis of our oceans.
As part of Schroders’ ongoing commitment to the environment, we continuously review our procurement options for more sustainable materials, provide training on recycling and encourage our staff to think about travel and printing. We have dramatically reduced the use of single-use plastic in our New York office and globally. This year, Schroders’ goal is to replace single-use plastics in its pantry with plant-based material which gets recycled with food and turned into compost.
Karl Dasher, CEO, North America & Co-Head of Fixed Income, commented:
“Sustainability isn’t just a tagline at Schroders. We are committed to reducing our impact on the environment. As investors we integrate our sustainability research across asset classes and geographies and use our insights to inform decisions in all investment areas including equities, fixed income and private assets.
We also look to make those same decisions in how we manage our offices and encourage our employees to make more sustainable choices. It’s integral to everything we do.”
Schroders’ aim is to view the world through a sustainability lens – as investors, employees and a company. By taking this combined approach we hope to reduce our impact on the environment and continuously replaces plastic with sustainable alternatives.
For further information and photography please contact:
Katherine Segura of Prosek Partners at 646-818-9266, ksegura@prosek.com
Jennifer Manser O’Rourke of Schroders at 212-632-2947, jennifer.manser@schroders.com
[1] Plastic Oceans UK
[2] Plastic Oceans UK
[3] Plastic Oceans UK
The views and opinions contained herein are those of Schroders' investment teams and/or Economics Group, and do not necessarily represent Schroder Investment Management North America Inc.'s house views. These views are subject to change. This information is intended to be for information purposes only and it is not intended as promotional material in any respect.