The METAmorphosis
Jake Phillips is responsible for implementing ecologically friendly changes at Boehringer Ingelheim’s META offices in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa. He and his team have already ensured that all offices in the region are free of single-use plastic.
“There is no planet B and I believe that it is our duty to leave this Earth in better shape than we found it in. I got the green activism gene from my mum. She was involved in Greenpeace and many other organisations. My urge to save this planet was always strong and grew even stronger after my first child was born.
My main goal is to spark the same passion in my co-workers at Boehringer Ingelheim in the META region. Especially in Dubai, it was very easy to introduce changes: 75 percent of my colleagues were immediately on board, when we suggested a more sustainable approach. Our plan to ban single-use plastic also resonated well at our offices in Kenya, which is no surprise since Kenya was the first country in the world to ban plastic bags.
In many of our META offices we’ve now put a recycling system in place. The amount of our recycled paper and cardboard amounts to 5,000 trees that weren’t chopped down. Our next goal is to become paper-free by the end of 2020. Boehringer Ingelheim META’s biggest achievement is that by now, all our offices are single-use-plastic-free. This initiative was very important, since in most of the META countries the general awareness about the dangers of plastic for our ecosystem was comparatively low.
I want my children to grow up in a world that is aware of its responsibilities. I’m happy that Boehringer Ingelheim shares my vision and is encouraging change towards a better future at all of its locations around the world.”
