In 2017, a couple of passionate staff members from Bonds and other brands within our company, Hanes Australasia, banded together to form (drumroll) THE GREEN TEAM!

The Green Team is known for making some great contributions to our sustainability initiatives, from our offices in Sydney and Melbourne to our warehouses and supply chain.

We sat down with Head Designer at Bonds, and one of the ringleaders of the Green Team, Marianne Perrottet, to chat all things green…

Q: How did the Green Team come about?

The Green Team originally came about in our Head Office to address the growing concern of office waste, with first step being addressing recycling effectively in the kitchen.

This quickly grew to larger initiatives such as removing plastic hangers from all Bonds online orders, recycling plastic hangers used on products within the office with TIC, recycling office soft plastics and DHL bags, and reusing & recycling paper materials to reduce our environmental impact.

We also started promoting keep cups for coffees, reusable totes instead of bringing plastic bags into the office, and simple things like turning off the lights when not in use, just to name a few.

Q: Why did we need a Green Team?

To be consciously making a difference, to promote change, and to have a positive effect on a more sustainable future.

Q: How many people are involved in this awesome team? 

There are now 55 members across our Australian offices, and most recently NZ have joined us which is so exciting.

Q: What are your key focus areas?

To reduce our footprint in and around the office and for team members to be able to feel like they are making a difference at work that reflects their sustainable values outside of work.

It is very important these values are connected, and they have a voice for change. Together we can make change around the offices.

It can be so easy, for example, last month we set up a toothpaste/toothbrush recycling initiative in the bathrooms of our Sydney office with Terracycle, and the tubs are already overflowing. We have also put up posters at paper towel dispensers that say; “Shake It Off – do you really need three paper towels?”.

We communicate in fun ways to make all Hanes employees really think about what they are doing and how together small changes can make a huge difference.

Q: What has been your biggest initiative to date? 

Our biggest initiative so far has been the win of removing plastic hangers from our BONDS online orders and reusing them through our closed loop program with TIC. This is something we do in our offices and retail stores.

The Senior Leadership Team were so supportive in making this happen, as were the team at our Melbourne warehouse who reimagined their production line and work and safety practices to make this happen. It was very rewarding.

Within six months of the change, over half a million plastic hangers, or 15 tonnes of plastic, had been diverted instead of being sent to our online customers and likely headed for landfill. In 2019, we expect to see at least a million hangers being fed back into our closed loop hanger recycling program.

Q: What are your top 3 tips for people wanting to be more green in the office? 

Here’s just a few easy things you can do to be more green…

1. Bring your lunch to work. This means less disposable take away waste, packaging and plastic bags coming into the office.

2. Pull the blinds down around you in summer and winter – better insulation and less need for cranking up the AC.

3. BYO calico bag and keep cup – so they’re always readily accessible and then you have no excuses!