Earth Day began on 22nd April 1970.
It all started with an idea from a junior senator from Wisconsin called Gaylord Nelson, who had become increasingly concerned about the deteriorating environment in the United States.
Then in 1969 a large oil spill in Santa Barbara resulted in the death of thousands of marine animals and pollution of miles of coastline. This event sparked Nelson to start a movement to save the planet, with the help of students and activists which quickly caught national media attention.
Now known as Earth Day, it's a global movement that is supported by millions of people across the planet.
This year’s focus is on the planet vs. plastics, with a commitment to end plastics for the sake of human and planetary health, demanding a 60% reduction in the production of all plastics by 2040.
At Granta Park, we are committed to helping this mission by ensuring that our processes here are the best they can be. We have an advanced waste management system for each building and conduct regular waste audits to ensure they are working as they should be. We work with our partners, suppliers and tenants to understand their needs and put plans in place to support this by hosting a quarterly ESG meeting with the Parks Green Champions.
When it comes to any construction and development we do across the Estate, we ensure that the contractors chosen share our values on sustainability, including waste. This is evident in BioMed Realty's latest project on the Park, One Granta, where to date they have managed to divert 99.96% of waste away from landfill. The waste process has incorporated the recycling of materials via waste transfer stations, which have also used portions of the waste as energy recovery on their sites.
As we pledge to continue this work, we encourage all our tenants to do the same. We are always looking at ways to improve what we do and how we do it to make the operation of Granta Park as sustainable as it can be.