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Plastic Free July – What's Covent Garden Doing?

Plastic Free July – What's Covent Garden Doing?
14 July 2021
 

In a quest for a more sustainable London this Plastic Free July, Covent Garden is making inspiring changes within its facilities.

Brands including Aesop, DECIEM, Mulberry, Free People, Floral Street Fragrance and L’Occitane, as well as restaurants and cafe's including Chez Antoinette, Ladurée, Le Pain Quotidien and Oysterman have all been involved in getting consumers to make greener choices this month.

This includes reusable cup initiatives, water refill stations, product recycling and sustainable takeaway packaging alternatives.

There's also a new flag installation by British artist Lakwena made with 100 per cent recycled yarn from ocean waste.

 

Covent Garden Supports Environmental Initiatives 

Covent Garden aims to minimise its own impact on the environment; as well as encouraging and supporting its restaurants and retailers in their efforts to become more sustainable and tackle plastic waste across the estate. 

In support of its community, Covent Garden has been inviting visitors to explore all of the retailers making positive and progressive changes in-store this Plastic Free July.

For coffees on-the-go, Chez Antoinette, Ladurée, Le Pain Quotidien and Oysterman continue to offer visitors the opportunity to bring their own reusable cup, whilst Avobar offers a free hot drink when first purchasing a KeepCup and a discount when reusing thereafter.

Alongside KeepCups, a host of recyclable takeaway dishes, paper straws, cornstarch cutlery and paper bags are used across the estate by all of Covent Garden’s food and beverage tenants wherever possible. 

To support reducing their carbon footprint, hospitality brands including Le Pain Quotidien streamline deliveries to come from one supplier and Petersham Nurseries are offering a series of talks to celebrate their Oceanic Global partnership.

For plastic-free beauty, Covent Garden’s DECIEM and L’Occitane are both participating locations for the TerraCycle recycling scheme and customers can recycle empty beauty bottles from any brand in-store and as an added incentive benefit from in-store discounts.

Floral Street Fragrance encourages purchasers to repurpose packaging as a compostable plant pot as well as offering fragrance refills in-store whilst their packaging uses a groundbreaking wood pulp carton - a first for the beauty world. A step towards eradicating disposable beauty, Molton Brown’s new 200ml glass bottle is reusable and refillable from their 600ml pouches, using 80 per cent less plastic when manufactured and Aesop is gifting cotton bags with any purchase. 

Luxury brand Mulberry’s signature green packaging is made from disposable coffee cups, repurposing over 1.5 million cups that would have ended up in landfill. They also offer the Mulberry Exchange, enabling customers to purchase authenticated pre-loved items.

Other initiatives include; Free People using 100 per cent recyclable packaging such as biodegradable fabric bags, and adventure sports retailer Ellis Brigham installing a refillable water station, and selling on-the-go reusable bottles, flasks and cutlery to eliminate single-use plastic items amongst consumers.

New and exciting sustainable collections are also available across the estate, including Joseph Cheaney & Sons’ newly launched Eco Aware collection sold in 100 per cent plastic-free packaging and fashion-forward sunglasses company Hawkers’ showcasing eco-friendly H20 Line sunglasses made from recycled and biodegradable materials. 

 

Thousands of New Plants

 

Covent Garden’s sustainability efforts have also been extended to its greening and horticulture programme which has introduced thousands of new plants across the estate, alongside reducing any plastic wastage as part of this by over 60 per cent, even switching to bare root roses in place of potted ones. For the plastic pots still used, these have a 90 per cent recycle rate and are recycled locally or sent back to the supplier after use for recycling or reuse. 

This Summer Covent Garden has also unveiled a sustainable art installation by London-born artist Lakwena that sees a series of flags made with 100 per cent recycled yarn from ocean waste installed across King Street and Henrietta Street. Emblazoned with the message “Nothing Can Separate Us” they will spread messages of togetherness as London welcomes the start of summer.

Picture: a photograph of an outside dining area in Covent Garden

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 14 July 2021

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