Bottles, bags and ESG strategy in Spain

Did you know that every Spaniard generates 34 kilos of single-use plastic waste every year? Incredible.

At Keyrus, we asked ourselves how can we join the cause by doing our bit? Many ideas came up, some are still taking shape and we talked about other ideas that you will see very soon in our social networks, but undoubtedly, the first action was very easy to land: align the merchandising policies of Marketing, Communication and Human Resources with the global ESG strategy. As a result of this new policy, two of the merchandising items that are revolutionizing our events, our communication and above all, the relationship with our employees were born: the glass bottle with cork wrapping along with the cloth bag that generates envy among the top influencers of the moment (although they do not want to recognize it for free).

But what impact can a simple glass bottle and a cloth bag have on society and the environment? According to The Plastic Waste Makers Index report: "Single-use plastics account for one-third of all plastics produced in the world over the course of a year. Almost all of them, 99%, are made from fossil fuels, oil and coal. 130 million tons are discarded every year without being recycled, incinerated without control, buried or thrown into the natural environment. Every year, between five and thirteen million tons end up in the oceans. The economy of scale through fossil fuel-based polymers prevents the transition to the circular economy of plastics. At the current rate of growth, single-use plastics will contribute between 5% and 10% of greenhouse gas emissions to global warming. In the next five years, the capacity to produce virgin polymers - the raw material for the manufacture of plastics - will increase by 30%, which will have an impact on both the oceans and the atmosphere.

Spain, like all countries in the West, is one of the leading countries in the generation of this waste. Every year, each person throws away 34 kilos of single-use plastics, a large proportion of which are bottles and bags".

So at Keyrus, we focused on having materials that could be reused and recycled in a way that consumed less energy and was less harmful to the environment. And what about the cork wrapper? You'll be cutting down thousands of cork oak trees! The bark is extracted from the cork oaks without causing any damage to the tree. There is no need to cut it down. It is a process of absolute precision where a vertical and then horizontal incision is made to remove the cork sheets with the utmost care. On the other hand, the cork oak is the only species whose bark is generated after removal.

The bags that are setting trends but above all saving lives

A cloth bag has advantages such as saving on buying plastic bags, its aesthetics, quality and above all, durability. On the other hand, by using this type of bags and not resorting to the harmful and polluting plastic bags, we help to reduce the greenhouse effect and save lives. Many turtles mistake these bags for jellyfish, ingest them, become intoxicated and die. On the other hand, plastics take more than 1000 years to decompose and even if in front of your eyes there is no material in the ocean, there are still microparticles that are consumed by the placton, thus joining the food chain.

This action is just one more step in our commitment to our ESG strategy and soon you will be able to learn more about the next initiatives we have prepared.

Stay tuned!

Image rights Cork oak: viveelaltopalancia