Developing company-wide sustainable solutions and governance into the soul of a business is a journey best taken with the help of trusted advisors. For Bunzl, collaborating with customers to ensure sustainable alternatives across a range of industries is the way to do it. One such approach is their newly launched Sustainability Ambassador program that Bunzl employees can nominate to be part of.
Becoming an ambassador includes four one hour sessions of initial training run by one of Bunzl’s sustainability team, as well monthly meetings, a training component and timely sustainability updates into such topics as single-use plastic, waste management, responsible sourcing and climate change.
For NSW/ACT Account Manager Gareth Anderson, the way forward is through knowledge sharing. “I became a Sustainability Ambassador to get a better understanding of what sustainable products Bunzl is bringing to market so that I could pass on the knowledge to my customers. However, I quickly found there was far more to sustainability than just products,” he says. “Through the program, we’ve learnt what sustainability means across the whole of our business – from sustainable sourcing and supply-chain audits to ensuring safe work environments and developing tools to measure environmental impacts.”
The strive for smarter and more positive impactful initiatives can also become complicated with constant updates around environmental and consumer laws. For Jarrod O’Shannessy, National Corporate Account Manager – Healthcare, the Ambassador Program represents clarity around legislation. “Being a Sustainability Ambassador is an efficient avenue for me to keep up to date with all the current legislations and policies in regards to sustainability, while also allowing me to feed this information back to the Corporate Healthcare team and my customers,” he explains.
