Barnardo's Retail & Sustainability

Sustainability Initiatives Taking Place In Barnardo's Shops

As one of many sustainability initiatives taking place at Barnardo's, we've recently switched to sugar poly carrier bags. Since May 2023, we no longer offer single use plastic bags in any of our stores, and instead sell a more sustainable carrier bag that is produced from a plant-based polymer made from sugar cane.

The bags have a longer life than single use plastics and can be used time and time again. We have made this move to reduce our plastic consumption and help minimise the plastics polluting the environment. These bags are carbon neutral in manufacture and are 100% recyclable at end of life. 

It's the process of photosynthesis as the plant grows that make the product carbon positive. The sugar cane actively captures CO2 from the atmosphere, while at the same time releasing oxygen - making this material not just green, but proactively green. For every one tonne of our bags that is manufactured, 2.5 tonnes of CO2 are captured from the atmosphere, and despite the energy used in manufacturing and shipping CO2 emissions are off-set to result in a zero net balance.

Here are some other examples of ways Barnardo's retail is trying to reduce its impact on the environment:

Cardboard backhauling system - cardboard boxes from our stores are used to carry stock to our ecommerce warehouse, where they are emptied, 'shredded' and then used as packing material for outgoing parcels. This has reduced our waste output and packaging costs substantially.

Sustainable cleaning products - our new bio-hygiene range of cleaning products is available in concentrated and re-fill containers, which are then diluted with water, in turn reducing packaging volumes and CO2 emissions.

Waste management - we work closely with our waste and recycling contractors to reduce the amount of general waste and increase what we are reusing and recycling. We are also reducing the number of wasted journeys from our waste collectors to reduce our scope 3 Co2 emissions.  Our recycling rate has increased from 5% in April 2022, to 13% in November 2023.