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Going Green for Christmas: Giant Style

Dec 20, 2019

A GIANT Green Christmas that got everyone involved! 🎄

You may remember, back at Halloween, that we let you in on all of the ways we were trying to celebrate the freaky festivities in a way that was kinder to the planet – from 100% vegan sweets to putting a ban on pumpkins.

And with Christmas just around the corner, another time of the year that’s notoriously bad for generating tons of waste, we thought we’d fill you in on some of the ways we’ve tried to get on the planet’s nice list this year. From advent alternatives to second hand Secret Santa, there’s no reason going green should put a dampener on your festive cheer this time of year.

Secret Santa’s gone second hand

While it’s nice to celebrate the festive season by giving to others, Secret Santa can result in a lot of tat being gifted in offices around the country. In a bid to make things a bit more thoughtful, we’ve changed up Secret Santa this year, declaring that all gifts have to be second-hand, handmade, or eco-friendly. Plus, we asked all participating GIANTs to fill in a wishlist, to help the gift-givers buy things that would be more useful.

Recycling advisors WRAP found that the amount of wrapping paper thrown away at Christmas in the UK alone would stretch to the moon – which is a long way. To help cut down on some of this wrapping waste, we’ve also invested in reusable Santa sacks for everyone to gift their Secret Santa items in. We’ll be packing them up safely and reusing them again next year, too.

A GIANT advent calendar

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In previous years, we’ve bought all of the GIANTs an advent calendar to kick off December. However, this year we wanted to reduce the amount of single-use items we were buying – after all, 52 advent calendars are a lot of advent calendars. Instead, we turned a trusty Kallax unit into a custom GIANT advent calendar, full of gifts that were meant to be longer-lasting, and more eco-friendly. From plants and canvas tote bags to games and edible treats, the GIANT advent has been a big hit with the team – and way more fun than eating a little chocolate!

A whole host of vegan treats

In December, we like to celebrate the run-up to Christmas with a whole host of fun Friday festivities to get the GIANTs in the mood. We kicked things off on the 1st Friday of the month with hot chocolate and mince pies, with plenty of vegan alternatives available. Next, we had what’s affectionately been dubbed ‘the best day of the year’ – cheeseboard day. Naturally, we had to make sure that our vegan GIANTs had plenty of tasty cheese to enjoy too! Plus, we definitely saw a few non-vegans getting involved and trying new things, which is always nice to see. The final pre-Christmas Friday involved a GIANT classic, the Starbucks mega-order, which leads us nicely onto….

Reusable cups!

There’s nothing like a festive drink to get you in the mood for Christmas, and the GIANT Starbucks order is a bit of a Christmas tradition around here. To cut out the resulting influx of single-use coffee cups, we’ve invested in branded purple reusable coffee cups – taking inspiration from our summer party purchases. Not only will they reduce the waste this time, but the GIANTs will be able to use them all year round.

Green-powered Christmas cards

Sending Christmas cards to clients, partners, and organisations we work with is a really nice way to send good cheer at Christmas, but we wanted to find a way to do so that didn’t create tons of waste. The outcome was cards created with biodegradable paper, made with 100% green energy by a carbon-neutral company. Perfect for popping straight in the recycling bin, or even reusing – we personally think Ant would make a great bauble.

Got wood…en Christmas awards?

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At our Christmas party, we like to celebrate the wins – including honouring the GIANTs who have helped to make the year such a success. This year, we had custom wooden awards made up to give out to the winners, which will be engraved and reused each year. Not only is it more eco-friendly than little statues or plastic medals, but they look super cool too. Win-win!

Have you made any changes to your Christmas traditions this year in a bid to be more green? We’d love to hear about them! Hit us up over on Twitter, or find out why we’re so keen on green in our previous blog.

Want results like these?

So, you’ve seen how we do it — and you know what we’re capable of. If your brand or business could benefit from results like these, get in touch with us today to unleash your potential.

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Going Green On Halloween: Giant Style

Nov 1, 2019

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A GIANT Halloween ????

Ah, Halloween. The time of year when it’s socially acceptable to come into work covered in fake blood, or dressed as the world’s current favourite controversial figure (wonder who we mean…).

But also a time of year that can have a scary impact on the planet. At GIANT Towers we love a good party, and a reason to get everyone together, but this year we wanted to make sure that we did so in a way that was kinder to the planet.

You’ve probably spotted us talking about trying to be more green in our blogs and over on our social media channels in the last few months, so we thought we’d share a few swaps we made this year when it came to celebrating Halloween with the GIANTs. Plus, we’ve included some of our favourite costumes, in case you missed them on Instagram!

Sweet tooth?

You can’t celebrate Halloween properly without a few treats to balance out the tricks, which means there has to be sweets. This year, all of the candy we’ve bought is 100% vegan and comes in recyclable packaging, which not only means that all of our GIANTs can enjoy them, but they won’t result in tons of rubbish afterwards – unlike some sweets, which come in individual packets or lots of plastic packaging.

Reuse and recycle

We love to get creative with our decorations, but this year we are only using decorations that have been used before. Nothing new has been bought for the occasion. If anything, this has encouraged us to be more creative, and use things in different ways. And the end result looked pretty awesome!

Cool cocktails

Cocktails for our Halloween party have been thought about so that the waste is at a minimum. To achieve this, we’ve picked one signature cocktail, and only bought 8 large glass bottles for it, which are recyclable. We will be serving the cocktails in our branded rice husk cups, which we also used for our summer party.

Put a ban on pumpkins

This year, we did initially consider doing a pumpkin hunt, with hints on how to find the next one on a letter inside. However, we wanted to avoid having lots of waste, so we ditched the idea in favour of other games and entertainment. Did you know that more than 8 million pumpkins will be binned over Halloween when they could be eaten (well some of them, make sure to check sources)? If you do decide to carve a pumpkin this year, try roasting the seeds for a snack, or making the flesh into a soup. If you do, remember – sharing is caring.

How did you celebrate Halloween this year? Check out some of our favourite GIANT costume efforts below, or tag us in pictures of your fancy dress outfits – we’d love to see them!

Want results like these?

So, you’ve seen how we do it — and you know what we’re capable of. If your brand or business could benefit from results like these, get in touch with us today to unleash your potential.

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How We Are Lessening Our Environmental Impact

Oct 8, 2019

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Go Giant, Go Green ????

At Sleeping Giant Media we are firm believers that when it comes to helping the environment, little changes to our lifestyles can have a Giant impact.

With the recent inclusion of a Green squad to Giant Towers and a slew of other changes to our business, we have tried hard to take more conscious effort to lessen our environmental impact wherever we can.

We would be the first to admit that it can be really difficult to be completely green all the time, but by changing just small things and taking the effort to change our lifestyles where we can, we can all do our part to take steps in that direction.

We asked a few giants what changes they had made in their day-to-day lives for the good of the big mostly blue planet we all call home. These are their answers. We hope some are inspiring or motivational – after all, every step we take to lessen our environmental impact equals slightly less guilt when listening to David Attenborough talk.

Tiny steps to make a GIANT impact

Alex Clark

“I switched to using ‘Smol’ for my Dishwasher Tablets and Laundry Capsules. They use so much less packaging, and all the packaging it comes in is completely recyclable.” ♻️

Heather Elder

“We have reusable cups for our drinks (including water) and we have stopped using nappy sacks completely! We also have cut down our meat intake. My partner is big on energy saving so we ensure all things are switched off when we aren’t using them. We also have cut down on how much we use our tumble dryer.” ????

Kayleigh Shephard

“I bought a tote bag which I keep at work to use at the shops and I stopped eating beef around 2 months ago.” ????

Mersudin Forbes

“I have started using public transport more and try walking into work once a week. We eat meat-free around 3 times a week now too.” ????

Reuben Elman

“I now pick up both of my dog’s unusually large excrement with biodegradable bags.” (Charming!) ????

Ben Carr

“I take my own Tupperware to sandwich shops if I’m getting a salad or something to save on packaging (most places are happy to do this). I also use “Who Gives a Crap” to deliver toilet paper which is green, friendly and reduces plastic.” ????

Nell Sanders

“I forgo using the plastic bags when getting loose fruit/veg, go to the butcher as much as I can for more sustainable meat (same for bakery and greengrocer), and I have taught the dogs to recycle (such a lie, but would be super cute).” ????

Saiyukta Rai

“I carry around and use a steel straw and try to avoid buying plastic bottles when I need a drink. I also try to use more eco-friendly skin and care products.” ????

James Enderby

“I now use an Eco- Egg for all my washing. It saves money and preserves the quality of clothes, as well as being better for the environment.” ????

What about your own impact?

So that’s just a quick overview of the things our team are doing individually to help lessen their impact on the environment.

If you’re interested in making your office space a bit greener, to work nicely alongside your own efforts, then check out 5 things you can do to make your office more green-friendly

What moves have you been making to lessen your environmental impact? Big or small, we would love to know! Let us know by messaging us in all your usual social media places.

Want results like these?

So, you’ve seen how we do it — and you know what we’re capable of. If your brand or business could benefit from results like these, get in touch with us today to unleash your potential.