Taking Action in 2015 – Have You Made the “One Mug, One Planet” Pledge?

Last year on Earth Day, Symantec launched the “One Mug, One Planet” campaign to help reduce paper cup usage across our operations by 15 percent and encourage all employees to minimize our impacts both inside and outside the office by making a commitment to use a reusable mug every day.

In 2014, our goal was to reach 1,000 pledges signed across Symantec and to have 10 percent of employees at sites that have opted in join this campaign.

With waste management being central to our environmental strategy, Symantec employees took important steps towards achieving our corporate goals.  By December 2014, we had exceeded our initial goal having reached a total of 1313 pledges.

This means that if all the employees who made the One Mug, One Planet pledge used their reusable mug every day for a year, their individual actions will have saved 114,231 lbs of CO2[1] (#pledges x 87 lbs of CO2) and 30,199 lbs of waste[2] (#pledges x 23lbs) across Symantec operations.

Of the sites that have opted to join this campaign, we were able to analyze the data of the number of cups used at seven sites[3] over the six month period immediately after the launch of the One Mug, One Planet campaign as compared to a similar time period in 2013[4]. For the six months in 2014 for which data was collected, the seven sites used 314,001 fewer cups than in 2013. This was a 28% savings from the 2013 figures and resulted in $19,627 USD decrease in costs of cups purchased across the seven sites.

Johanna Laemle, Partner Program Coordinator for the Renewal Partner Success Team and Green Team Lead – Springfield, acknowledges the efforts of employees at the site, “Resource conservation is one of the four key components of Symantec’s environmental strategy and included under that umbrella is waste reduction. We’re excited to say that our involvement at the Springfield, OR campus in the One Mug, One Planet campaign has been a great success in encouraging employees to get personally involved in environmental stewardship! Springfield’s 2014 Earth Day event was a huge success and we signed up over 30 new members that day - which pushed our site’s Green Team to over 300 employees!”

But, we don’t want to stop there! With three months to go until Earth Day 2015, Symantec is renewing our efforts to demonstrate that “Every Day is Earth Day” through our collective actions.  We have set a goal to reach additional 300 pledges between now and Earth Day.

2014 One Mug, One Planet “Mug Shot”: Raul Roy from Symantec’s Dublin, Ireland office with his reusable mug.

As part of the campaign, employees who have made the pledge are encouraged to take a “Mug Shot” with their reusable mugs. The most creative Mug Shot will win a prize. 

Congratulations to our first Mug Shot winner, Raúl Roy, Technical Support Engineer, Enterprise Support Services, EMEA based out of our Dublin office!  Raúl won a 100 EURO Applause Award for his creative “Mug Shot” which was chosen from over 100 submissions.

Raúl decided to participate in the One Mug, One Planet campaign, “because of the Green [Team] mug :) and to try to reduce waste in the office.” His commitment to minimizing environmental impacts inside and outside of the office also includes encouraging his colleagues to use public transportation or to bicycle to the office. What is Raul’s favorite beverage to enjoy in his mug? “Green tea with some milk.”

We will announce our next “Mug Shot” winner on Earth Day 2015!

For more information on Symantec’s Green Teams, please contact Environmental_Responsibility@Symantec.com.​