PwC reduces environmental impact of Pride festival
With over 12,000 attendees at the Island’s second Pride festival this year, it was more important than ever that Isle of Pride made a new commitment to improve the event’s environmental sustainability. PwC Isle of Man joined forces as the first ever ‘Pride Nature Partner’, supplying 5,000 reusable and recyclable ‘Love is Love’ cups, printed with eco-ink, which significantly reduced the festival’s single use plastic waste to only 30kg.
Sold for a small fee by on-site vendors as a way to fundraise for Isle of Pride’s invaluable community work, festival attendees were encouraged to take their cups home as a reusable Pride keepsake and use them again at future Pride events.
The effect that the PwC recyclable cups had on-site was visible compared to last year. We had so much positive feedback about the cups and the design from attendees - they proved to be popular and almost sold out. As well as noticeably improving the festival’s eco-impact, the cup revenue will help us grow Isle of Pride’s team and initiatives. Alongside the cups, we welcomed Clara from Recyclecollect.im with recycling facilities. This had a massive impact on the amount of general rubbish and ensured waste was properly managed. Both initiatives helped to make Pride’s first sustainable commitment a great success.
PwC Pride cups reduced single use plastic waste. Photo credit: Chris Kissack
At PwC Isle of Man, we are a diverse community of solvers passionate about progressing inclusivity and equality as a firm and within our local community.
Partnering with Isle of Pride gave us the opportunity to directly support the LGBTQIA+ community and at the same time, ensure the environmental impact of the festival was minimal.
As a responsible business, we take pride in giving time and resources to improve the lives and experiences of others. Throughout the festival, PwC volunteers worked with Recyclecollect.im, Pride's first Recycling Partner, to tidy the site and manage the recycling bin collections.
The reusable cups were definitely a hit and an admirable feature that I would love to see rolled out to other events! In total, we collected 100kg of cans and only 30kg of plastic. I was surprised at the minimal weights! That’s 15 wheelie bins full of cans and only 4 wheelie bins of plastic - most of which were water bottles, large bottles used by the bars and food containers.
PwC volunteers before the Pride Parade. Photo by Luciadicksonphotography.com
The Nature Partner sponsorship was our first choice as it connects two crucial areas of our business - valuing differences in our people and operating in an environmentally responsible way. We’re delighted with the significant waste reduction outcome and believe this makes a fantastic example for prioritising an environmental strategy when planning any large-scale event on the Island. At PwC Isle of Man, our team takes pride in caring for each other, the local community and the Island’s environment, and we thank Isle of Pride for their hard work and dedication in bringing together such a thoughtful celebration.
Contact us
