Signs for businesses
Using signage around your business can be an incredibly effective way of sharing the plastic free message with customers and staff, and empowering them to do the right thing.
What you can do
Create signage and regular communication to help staff and customers avoid single-use plastics.
How you can do it
Businesses choose to get involved in Plastic Free July to help staff and customers to choose the alternatives to single-use plastics in the business and to support a wider movement to reduce plastic waste across the community.
Some businesses aim to help staff and customers to actively bring in their own reusable alternatives, including reusable water bottles and coffee cups. Others get involved in communicating all of the Plastic Free July ideas that help staff and customers to choose to refuse single-use plastic at home and when shopping.
When you’ve chosen the goals and messages that suit your type of business, we’ve got some great resources that you can download.
Businesses often give staff responsibility for creating and displaying signage or create social media content for their role in Plastic Free July.
However you choose to get your message across, be sure to keep it positive and action-orientated. Focussing on the solution rather than the problem is often more effective in engaging people to get on board.
Taking the next steps:
If you’re looking into creating signage, prominent display areas include:
- The entrance of your business.
- Checkouts, where people can choose to refuse single-use plastics.
- In the bin area, with information on what goes in them (e.g. food waste in compost bin).
- At refillable water stations, with additional signage around so people can find them easily.
It’s important to have your staff on board with changes as well. Train them to be able to communicate the move away from single-use plastics, including:
- Why the business is plastic free.
- Alternatives to single-use plastic that your business has decided to use.
- What goes in which bin and why.
Encourage staff and customers to use the @plasticfreejuly handle in any social media posts they make. It’s a great way of reminding people of the broader community that they’re a part of.
The Impact
- The easier you make it for people to avoid single-use plastic, the more likely they are to get on board with the issue.
- With the right signage and communications, businesses can significantly reduce the amount of single-use plastic they use.
