Punch Taverns, the UK’s biggest pub company, is holding a ‘Green Week’ of activities aimed at creating a more environmentally friendly business. 

The initiative is being led by the company’s recently established ‘Green Team’ headed by carbon manager Rachel King. 

“This week will include a number of initiatives designed to begin to change the way we do business.  For example, we are removing plastic cups for staff and replacing them with Punch branded ceramic mugs.  We are also removing waste bins in most areas and replacing them with recycling bins”, explains Rachel. 

“Just doing simple things like this will immediately mean we recycle the vast majority of our waste paper and drastically reduce the hundreds of plastic cups we use each year.  This week is just the beginning of a continuing range of initiatives and awareness raising plans to keep the environment at the forefront of the way we work”, added Rachel. 

Green Week is taking place over the two sites in Burton upon Trent that house Punch’s leased estate administrative staff and the managed arm of the business, Spirit.  The initiative is supported by the Carbon Trust and environmental consultancy company Enviros. 

Green Week is just the latest in a series of wide-ranging environmental initiatives undertaken by Punch Taverns:

• A water conservation project underway since August 2004 in over 800 managed pubs has resulted in an average 36% reduction in water use – equivalent to 294 tonnes of CO2
• Fifty one managed pubs are currently taking part in a trial designed to illustrate the business and environmental benefits of reducing energy consumption
• Smart metering is being installed in each of the 51 pubs – giving a real time view of water, electricity and gas consumption. This will show where savings can be made as a precursor to a substantial investment programme to improve insulation and install more efficient boilers 
• Energy efficient light bulbs are also being distributed to the 51 pubs, along with a flyer asking ‘how big is your carbon footprint?’ outlining the savings that can be made
• Similar information and initiatives will also be rolled out to Punch’s leased estate, to impress on leaseholders the good business sense behind energy efficiency, and providing practical advice on how to do this

“Green Week is part of an overall strategy for Punch Taverns, not just a one off initiative. We are looking at all aspects of our business to see how we can change the way we work and make a real difference to our environmental impact”, concludes Rachel. 

Punch Taverns is the UK’s largest pub owner with 8,400 leased, tenanted and managed outlets.

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For further information please contact Nick Trueman at Seal Communications on 0121 200 0780.