CalMac joins Prince of Wales to sign Waste to Wealth Commitment

Ferry operator CalMac joined 40 organisations from across the UK to pledge to take action to tackle the challenges of climate change. The company has signed up to the Prince of Wales' 'Waste to Wealth Commitment' organised by his responsible business network, Business in the Community. Leaders from business, government, academia and civil society joined the Prince at the initiative's launch in London.

The pledge is designed to help tackle the challenges of climate change by committing to actions to prevent the destruction of natural habitats. The target is to double the nation's resource productivity by using them more efficiently and to reduce avoidable waste by 2030. CalMac already has in place Environmental and Procurement Strategies to minimise waste, increase recycling and promote sustainable procurement.

'We are delighted to be the first transport operator to sign up to this commitment. As a company we are already changing the way we work to make more use of the resources we use through reducing, reusing  and recycling,' said CalMac's Environmental Manager, Klare Chamberlain.

'By the end of the first year of our Waste to Wealth Commitment we will have defined an action plan and will be working collaboratively to identify innovative solutions to some of the environmental challenges we face.'

Gudrun Cartwright, environment director at Business in the Community, said: 'CalMac has demonstrated leadership and commitment to tackle systemic challenges by signing up to the Waste to Wealth Commitment.  

'2030 is a critical year if we are to ensure we have an environment in which business and communities can flourish. The risks of inaction are enormous, but so too are the opportunities that could be created from a prosperous and resilient, low carbon economy.  We must make the most out of precious resources, waste as little as possible and find ways of turning the waste we do create into new wealth.'

Signatories to the Commitment recognise last month's conclusions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that there is only around 12 years to change our relationship with the resources society uses if the planet is to avoid avoid catastrophic climate change.

'This commitment gives us the ideal structure to build on work we have already done to help minimise our environmental impact. We are already committed to reducing total waste by 5% year on year and replacing single use plastics,' added Klare. 'But it is not just about what we throw away, it is thinking about how we can minimise the environmental impact of our working practices across the business. For instance we now use more than 50% local produce in all our on-board restaurants, helping to cut down on food miles and we have introduced new fuel monitoring systems to make our vessel's engines as efficient as possible.'