Voyage Green Promise - Our 'Less Plastic' Pledges

Across Voyage we have pledged to use less plastic - demonstrating our commitment to sustainability, a cleaner future, and a healthier planet. We want to encourage the adoption of eco-friendly alternatives, promote recycling, and foster a culture of responsible consumption.

By embracing our initiative we will contribute to a significant reduction in plastic waste across our sites, leading to a cleaner, more sustainable world for generations to come.

We are excited to share our progress and success as the year goes on - here are the pledges our teams have made so far:

We pledge to reduce laminating, remove single-use plastic bottles, and use refillable glue sticks and biodegradable glitter.

We will review our curriculum to ensure sustainability features in each Year Group.

We will work with TerraCycle Zero Waste Boxes for specialist recycling of white board pens, lunch wrappers, etc.

(IT Shared Services Team)

Our Less Plastic Pledge includes:

- Eco-Friendly IT Equipment Procurement: When procuring new IT equipment, we will opt for products that feature minimal plastic packaging. Our collaboration with Dell aims to reduce packaging, and when packaging is necessary we ensure proper disposal in recycling bins.

- Efficient Recycling and E-Waste Management: We have established a partnership with an e-waste recycling company which specialises in reusing plastic components to create new items.

- Advocate Durable Accessories: We will populate our service catalogue with high-quality accessories that are built to last, reducing the need for frequent replacements of plastic items.

We pledge to:

- Remove single-use bottles from our school environment via a ‘Bottle Swap Shop’.

- Reduce the amount of Cling Film in lunch boxes by inviting all of our learners and families to come into school to make beeswax wraps together.

- Educate our families about how they can reduce plastic at home through child-centred video shorts.

We pledge to Teach, Act, Change – One Plastic at a Time.

(Executive Team)

We pledge:

- To keep conversations on reducing plastic pollution within our Trust positive.

- To focus on solutions, drive Trust policy, and champion sustainability in meetings both internally and externally.

We pledge to reduce the use of single-use plastic bottles across both campuses. We will do this through:

- Strategic placement of water outlets.

- #TeamHHA water bottles provided for all students.

(Education Team)

We pledge to:

- Avoid disposable bottles.

- Promote the Less Plastic Pledge through newsletter articles - linking to work in academies, where possible and relevant.

- Share environmental/plastic quotes and facts about plastic pollution at the start/end/break time slides when leading training.

- Promote the message at any opportunity.

- Share new environmental/plastic pollution learning with each other (take 2 minutes at the start/end of meetings) to keep conversations positive.

We pledge to:

- Increase our recycling of plastic packaging. 

- Use less plastic in displays and only laminate resources that will be used again the following year.

(Catering Team)

Our Less Plastic Pledge includes:

- To reduce and then eliminate single-use plastics for drinks served in vending machines (and at serveries) and replace with more eco-friendly packaging.

- To reduce the amount of Cling Film used in kitchens by using smaller rolls or alternative bio-degradable packaging.

- To use plastic-free Christmas crackers. (Approximately 2,700 of them!)

Our less plastic pledge will be focusing on reducing single-use plastics, which end up in our oceans.

We are launching our 'plastic free lunchboxes', which includes our staff team. Our aim is to reduce our single-use plastics by 50%.

Our pledge includes promoting the use of reusable water bottles, recycling plastic packages for crafts, using refillable glue sticks to reduce plastic waste - and to continue our commitment to the Spalding Wombles and the Wygate Park Academy Second-Hand Uniform Shop.

(HR Shared Services Team)

We will review printing of ID cards to identify if old cards can be reused.

We will also take part in a 'clean up' activity within the local community with one of our schools, and review recycling of plastic within the Trust's offices (and set up recycling stations where required).

(Finance Team)

Our Less Plastic Pledge is to review our team's office orders going forward. Also to choose plastic-free procurement and request plastic-free deliveries from suppliers where possible.

We will also assist our academies with their pledges by attending a local recycling event (for example), and review office plastic recycling processes - e.g. introducing an office policy to wash out and recycle milk cartons.

Our pledge is to reduce single-use plastic at lunchtimes, to use plastic water bottles for children and staff (and use our water fountain for refills).

We will also reduce plastic in our displays, implement less lamination, and utilise reusable plastic pouches.

(Estates Team)

Our pledge is to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfill by reviewing and overhauling existing waste disposal/recycling across all sites.

We will increase the remaining amount of plastic that is recycled on our sites and ensure any non-recyclable waste is disposed of in an ethical and environmentally-friendly manner.

We will also research environmentally-friendly waste disposal methods and liaise with industry-leading waste disposal companies to help us identify where improvements can be made.

We will tender out the waste disposal contract too for all of our schools, include our recycling/ethical waste disposal requirements in our specification - and will promote the correct way to dispose of waste.