Banbury company marks World Clean-up Day by litter picking in the town's Spiceball Park

Banbury-based Keter, a leading manufacturer of home and garden products, launched its Community Connection scheme last week to coincide with World Clean-up Day.
Cllr John Colegrave, chairman of Banbury Town Council, and members of the Keter team are pictured at the Spiceball Park litter-pickCllr John Colegrave, chairman of Banbury Town Council, and members of the Keter team are pictured at the Spiceball Park litter-pick
Cllr John Colegrave, chairman of Banbury Town Council, and members of the Keter team are pictured at the Spiceball Park litter-pick

On Friday, 35 employees from all departments at the Beaumont Road company were joined by Banbury Town Council chairman Cllr John Colegrave in a litter pick in Spiceball Park to kick the event off officially.

Team members donned hi-vis jackets to help clean up the park. They collected nearly 5,000 litres of rubbish, enough to fill four Keter Store It Out storage units. The company plans to recycle any suitable resin collected for use in its production.

The Community Connection initiative is another step in Keter’s ongoing sustainability drive, after the company made a number of transformational pledges to be delivered by 2025. These include achieving 55 per cent of recycled content in their production, making no single-use plastic consumer products, reducing greenhouse gas emissions in production by 25 per cent and producing no landfill waste in production.

Keter staff get to work collecting rubbish from Spiceball Park as part of their Community Connection initiativeKeter staff get to work collecting rubbish from Spiceball Park as part of their Community Connection initiative
Keter staff get to work collecting rubbish from Spiceball Park as part of their Community Connection initiative

The company is also trialing collection of used products from customers to recycle in new production, reducing waste and incentivising return of old items.

Kerry Murfin, Keter Marketing Director Europe, says: “Sustainability sits at the heart of the Keter business so it’s really important to us that we connect with the local community and play a part in helping to protect the environment.

"We’re really proud of the team for getting involved in the clean-up around the Banbury parks and we’d like to say a huge thank you to Cllr John Colegrave for helping us launch the event. Together, we can try to create a more sustainable community and we look forward to hosting more events like this in the future.”

As part of Keter’s Community Connection initiative, the team also hosted a separate litter picking event on Friday with its team in the Redruth factory to coincide with the Great British Beach Clean event.

Cllr Colegrave said: “Keter clearly cares about the environment and is taking positive action to help fight climate change. This council welcomes Keter’s community connection initiative and is looking forward to working with the company again in the future.

“In January 2020 this council agreed to tackle climate change in its own working practices and by teaming up with local groups and organisations. This link with Keter is exactly what was envisaged," he said.

Keter has also been recognised for its positive impact made within its business and has been named as a finalist in the Business Culture Awards in the Best Learning Initiative and Best Wellbeing Initiative categories. Winners are set to be announced on Tuesday, October 5.

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