A Wave of Change: Alpha’s Partnership with Plastic Oceans UK

Cathrine Hansen

Each year over 350 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally (PlasticsEurope, 2019) – the equivalent weight of 28 million London double-decker busses. Despite some of this plastic being produced with good and meaningful intentions, 350 million tonnes is an extraordinary amount of plastic and unfortunately a large proportion ends up in our ocean.

At Alpha we run a Charity of the Year Programme where we partner with a charity supporting their cause through fundraising, awareness raising, volunteering and pro bono work. The charity is nominated and selected by our global teams, and this year we are proud to have partnered up with Plastic Oceans UK.

A large proportion of the 350 million tonnes of plastic produced globally per annum ends up in the ocean.

What is Plastic Oceans UK?

Plastic Oceans UK produced the award-winning documentary A Plastic Ocean, and they have been experts on plastic pollution for over a decade. Plastic Oceans UK’s current mission is to stop plastic reaching our ocean in a generation, and they do this by influencing behaviours and attitudes towards plastic and the ocean. This is in preparation for building a global movement in line with the UN Decade of the Ocean to bring individuals and organisations together across the social spectrum to stop threats like plastic pollution and climate change from harming the ocean’s health. More will be revealed soon.

You can read more about Plastic Oceans UK here.

How does Alpha support Plastic Oceans UK?

Pro bono work is important and highly sought after at Alpha, and it is a significant requirement when choosing our charity partner for the year. We want to utilise our consulting skills to truly make a difference. Therefore, we are thrilled to not only be supporting Plastic Oceans UK through fund and awareness raising, but also through a number of exciting pro bono projects in support of Plastic Oceans UK’s rebrand. These include:

  • M&A – We are working with Plastic Oceans UK to successfully complete an acquisition of another organisation and ensure the right due diligence is undertaken
  • Digital Engagement – We are helping Plastic Oceans UK make the right decisions on how to enhance their website to connect people across the world
  • CRM – We are supporting Plastic Oceans UK in the collection of CRM requirements and preparation for implementation
  • Plastic Intelligence Framework Testing – We are working with Plastic Oceans UK across our Alpha offices to test their Plastic Intelligence Framework for behavioural change at individual and organisational level
“I’ve had the privilege to work with multiple Alpha teams this year and their support has been unwaveringly positive and insightful. With their help, we managed to follow the right processes to build trust in our ambitious plans, not only internally within our team but also externally with new partners and the new organisation we are merging with. The team members dedicated so much time and passion to our cause, going above and beyond the original brief to ensure we were able to get the best possible results.”
Melanie Vella, Head of Comms & Engagement, Plastic Oceans UK

Despite Covid-19 having significantly influenced the ways of working for most companies across the world, our teams are providing high quality support that will help Plastic Oceans UK achieve their mission to stop plastic reaching the ocean in a generation. On that note, it has taken you approximately 2 minutes to read this article. In these 2 minutes the equivalent of two garbage trucks of plastic leaked into our ocean (Pennington, 2016). That is food for thought.

If you have any questions about Alpha’s Charity of the Year Programme, please email us at csr@alphafmc.com.

 

 

About the Author

Cathrine Hansen
Consultant

Cathrine is a consultant at Alpha and the UK lead for our Charity of the Year Programme working closely with Plastic Oceans UK to build a strong partnership for 2020. Cathrine has four years of experience with consulting in the Asset Management industry and has supported a number of transformational and strategic change programmes. Her main experience lies within ESG reporting current and future state design, implementation and market trends.