Single-use plastics: outdoor industry call to arms
10/02/2025
This coincides with the launch of a new short film and website to showcase the key achievements and tangible outcomes from SUPP, highlight its focus and encourage more firms to get involved.
Launched in 2018 by the EOG, the Single Use Plastics Project was founded to directly address the sustainability challenges presented by poly bags in the supply chain. The partners involved started by researching the single use plastic footprint of their organisations and the wider industry, which established that the largest proportion of material was in the form of protective garment poly bags.
The SUPP has since created a single use plastics collection and recycling network for the UK outdoor industry and published a report about single use plastics in the value chain.
It will also support members with incoming regulation and grow the existing resource list.
Dr Verity Hardy (pictured), SUPP project lead, said: “The Single Use Plastics Project has made really good progress and that’s thanks to the really high level of active engagement by the partners involved. We’ve done a really thorough job of identifying the key aspects of a very specific issue, and then developing and testing viable solutions that will work at scale. However, what was always the right thing to do has now become essential, with packaging legislation due to take force soon that will have a direct impact on businesses in the outdoor sector. I urge brands and retailers to get in touch and be part of SUPP.”
Equip Outdoor Technologies, parent company of technical outdoor brand Rab, was a founding partner of SUPP and features in the new film. Debbie Read, head of corporate communications and CSR at Equip, comments: “Poly bags are an important tool to protect our products throughout our complex supply chain. Taking part in the UK single use plastic recycling network allows us to treat this plastic as a valuable resource, and not waste. As an industry, we could make a huge difference if we all recycled our poly bags to turn them into high-grade pellets.”
Marta Pellegrino, The North Face’s senior sustainability specialist, said: “Thanks to the EOG’s great leadership, the numerous open conversations and the ongoing teamwork with our industry peers, we’ve been able to reach some key milestones at The North Face. This project is a great example of how industry-wide problems do indeed demand on industry-wide response.”
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