The Hub The Hub What’s on at Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce
Amazon manager
to speak at event A member of the management team at multinational technology giant Amazon will be speaking at a Chase Chamber of Commerce event. Neil Williams (pictured), UK community
Badge of honour: Vanessa Lewis and Lauren Hunt from the Chamber events team
Chamber introduces recyclable badges
Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce has taken an important measure to eliminate plastic waste at its events. New delegate badges – which are 100 per cent
recyclable and bio-degradable – have been adopted for events across the GBCC’s 10 divisions. The Chamber currently runs around 250 events per year, some of which attract hundreds of delegates. In a bid to reduce plastic waste, the events
team have ditched plastic badges and paper inserts in favour of an environmentally-friendly alternative, with the help of the Chamber’s official stationery supplier Quality Business Solutions. Katrina Cooke, director of marketing and
communications at the GBCC, said: “The Chamber was ordering hundreds of plastic badges and paper inserts every month for use at our events. “Although we tried to recycle as many plastic
badges as possible, they would often go missing and would have to be replaced. This created a vicious cycle of plastic waste. “The new badges are 100 per cent recyclable
and bio-degradable and have very low environmental impact.” Paul Casey, national contract manager at
Quality Business Solutions, said: “Quality Business
‘The new badges are 100 per cent recyclable and bio-degradable’
Solutions strive to look at reducing plastics for our clients to find them solutions and products to make our customers greener. “It’s great to help support a business move
towards environmentally-friendly products.” The initiative also demonstrates the Chamber’s
commitment to sustainability, in line with the EcoPledge introduced by Sutton Coldfield Chamber of Commerce president Katie Hale. The pledge encourages businesses to make
changes to their operation in order to become more environmentally-friendly and, in turn, improve their bottom line. Katie said: “I’m thrilled that the GBCC are
leading by example, and showing how tackling one issue in an organisation can make a huge impact on waste and sustainability.” The GBCC has also taken steps to reduce its
paper usage over the past 12 months by using digital awards judging and event delegate packs, rather than printed versions, and trialling an app for the Transatlantic Conference as an alternative to printed material.
relations manager at Amazon, will be discussing the firm’s Rugeley-based fulfilment centre at a Speaker Breakfast event taking place on 22 October at the Roman Way Hotel in Cannock. Neil has been with Amazon
since 2017, previously working for a number of world-leading firms in engineering, pharmaceuticals, building supplies, oil and gas exploration. The Speaker Breakfast
event is part of a series of events hosted by Chase Chamber of Commerce and Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. Launched as a bookstore in 1995 with the
objective of becoming Earth’s most customer- centric company, Amazon is now an e-commerce firm which is considered part of the Big Four technology companies. From packaging engineers to Amazon Go
chefs to robotics experts, Amazon now employs more than 560,000 people worldwide. Amazon launched in the UK in 1998 and now
has 17 fulfilment centres, including three development centres in Cambridge, Edinburgh and London plus more than 40 Amazon Logistics delivery stations. Amazon employs 25,000 permanent
employees in the UK across all its operations. Amazon’s Rugeley fulfilment centre, which
opened in September 2011, is the size of 10 football pitches, employs in the region of 1,000 people and handles millions of products for customers. It was the first in the UK to open its doors for
public tours. The event is free to attend for Chamber members, and £15 for non-members.
October 2019 CHAMBERLINK 47
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