Creamline, the Trafford based dairy and ‘Best of Local’ home delivery service, has joined forces with the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, as part of its ongoing mission to reduce plastic pollution within Greater Manchester.

Encouraging the people of Manchester to convert from single use plastic to traditional glass milk bottles, the launch of Creamline’s ‘Glass is Greener’ environmental campaign has already seen over 10 million glass bottles delivered to homes and businesses across Greater Manchester in 2018 alone – saving a staggering 183 tonnes of plastic from local landfill.

Campaigning for people to make a small change that can bring about a big difference – Creamline is calling on customers to switch from plastic to environmentally conscious glass bottles, predominantly delivered by the business’ fleet of electric vehicles.

With backing from Mayor Andy Burnham, the leading dairy has set its sights on the next generation, calling on schools across Greater Manchester and Cheshire to make the switch. Every week of the school year approximately 500,000 third pints of milk are consumed by school children, served in plastic bottles.  By switching to glass milk bottles and re-useable cups, millions of single-use containers could be avoided from heading to landfill or recycling.

Commenting on the company’s environmental plans, Chris Swallow, joint managing director at Creamline, said that he – along with the rest of the British public – had been shocked by the devasting effect plastic had on the world’s oceans and was inspired to take action. He commented:

‘We knew as a company we wanted to help make a difference and luckily our customers are just as committed as we are. We’ve been proudly delivering glass milk bottles for over 70 years. It’s something we’ve always been passionate about and with millions of tonnes of plastic entering our oceans and rivers each and every year, it’s great to have both the Mayor and the people of Manchester support this campaign so strongly.

‘By switching to glass, you can help wave goodbye to single use plastics – heading back to traditional glass bottles, which are returnable and reusable for years to come. With schools across the region backing this campaign too, we can make a significant impact to help protect the environment for the next generation.’

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “We want to make Greater Manchester one of the greenest city regions in Europe. But we’ll only achieve that if we work together and start to make some serious changes to the way we live our lives and do business together.

“As public tolerance of plastics falls, people are looking for alternatives, which is good news for businesses like Creamline that are already making big adjustments to help deliver a cleaner, greener Greater Manchester.

“In March 2019, we’ll be holding the follow-up event to our Green Summit where we’ll be inviting businesses from across Greater Manchester to share their achievements so far, and looking at the progress we’re making towards eradicating single-use plastics and becoming carbon-neutral by 2038 – a full decade earlier than first planned.”

The founding partners of Tackle4MCR, an unprecedented campaign to tackle rough sleeping and led by Vincent Kompany and Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, have been revealed.

Businesses backing the fundraising vehicle – set up to create a once in a lifetime social movement – are Workspace Design & Build, Equilibrium Asset Management, ANS, S.J.M. Concerts and Palatine.

It comes after both Manchester City and Belgium captain Vincent Kompany and the Mayor urged those ‘with a big heart for Manchester and the means to make a difference’ to become Gold or Platinum Partners of Tackle4MCR whilst launching the project in September.

Wealth management company Equilibrium, fit-out specialist Workspace Design & Build, the UK’s number one cloud services provider ANS, regional mid-market private equity firm Palatine and one of the UK’s leading concert promoters S.J.M. Concerts are now the official Founding Partners of Tackle4MCR.

The funds raised by Tackle4MCR – a special fundraising vehicle set up in the form of a limited company for one year by Andy and Vincent – will go to the Mayor of Greater Manchester’s Homelessness Fund, and more specifically the recently launched ‘A Bed Every Night’ campaign which states ‘Nobody should have to sleep rough on the streets of Greater Manchester’.

Vincent Kompany, who has pledged to make use of the momentum generated by his Testimonial season at Manchester City to assist the Mayor with one of his top priorities, said: “The commitment of the five Founding Partners of Tackle4MCR is heart-warming and sends out a powerful message about this project.

“We’re looking forward to working with Equilibrium, Workspace, ANS, S.J.M. Concerts and Palatine over the next 12 months as we aim to tackle what we have set out to do.”

This comes after Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham pledged – on his first day in office – to end the need for rough sleeping in the city-region by 2020 while also setting up The Mayor’s Homelessness Fund.

Alongside the fund and donating 15% of his salary to it each month, the Mayor established the Greater Manchester Homeless Action Network which brings together local authorities, charities, voluntary, social enterprise, faith and community organisations from across the city-region. Together they have set out their ‘A Bed Every Night’ action plan which is now live. Funds raised by Tackle4MCR will bring this plan to life.

Those who do sign up to Tackle4MCR will follow a considered approach spanning the full length of the football season, incorporating a unique gala dinner, a participative city-wide #FootballFriday campaign, with an important awareness element around rough sleeping aimed at schools, culminating in a rare testimonial gala match at the Etihad Stadium following the close of the 2018/19 season and courtesy of Manchester City.

Every penny of Tackle4MCR charity funds will be managed by the Mayor of Greater Manchester’s Homelessness Fund.  The Fund will utilise the money raised efficiently and transparently to support the ‘A Bed Every Night’ action plan.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “Tackling homelessness and rough sleeping in Greater Manchester is my top personal priority. Over the coming winter, our aim is to provide a place for every person sleeping rough, starting this month and running right through until 31 March.

“We are working hard on raising the funding we need and I am very pleased that Tackle4MCR, a project spearheaded by Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany, is backing our work. Every penny raised during this, his Testimonial year, will go towards supporting A Bed Every Night.

“I am so grateful for Vincent’s support and involvement. Tackle4MCR is just the sort of project we need to get right behind A Bed Every Night to help make it a success.”