Company Name: Freedom Leisure
Contact Person: Angela Brown
Industry Sector: Public Leisure and Culture
Tell us in two sentences about your company, products or services
Freedom Leisure is one of the UK’s leading not-for-profit charitable leisure and cultural trusts, operating over 130 leisure, cultural and entertainment venues across the UK either in partnership with or acting as agent on behalf of the local authority. Our mission is to ‘improve lives through leisure’ – we actively promote healthy lifestyles across the communities we serve, providing high quality, affordable and accessible physical activity, mental health and social opportunities in local community facilities and we’re proud to be not-for-profit.
What developments have you made in your responsible plastic management journey?
- We aim to procure products with minimal plastic packaging, and only work with suppliers who share our approach to environmental sustainability.
- We have removed plastic shoe covers from our centres;
- Replaced cleaning products with concentrated versions which can be safely diluted onsite, minimising the volume of containers required;
- Begun selling reusable alternatives to commonly used items, such as water bottles, hot drink cups, gym cloths;
- Stocking products made from recycled materials;
- Made advertising banners more generic, so that they can be used repeatedly for annual events.
What responsible plastic management achievements have you made in 2026 so far? - We have become supporter members of RPM this year, actively engaging with waste management to a higher standard than ever before;
- Introduced a recycling service specifically for mixed polymer swimming pool equipment;
- Changed our group waste contractor to provide a more holistic and consistent service, with higher quality data, bespoke support for centres, internal expertise, and additional streams;
- Begun designing reusable decorations for celebration events, to replace balloons.
How has RPM Program assisted in your Journey?
- Provided Plastic Literacy Training.
- Provided a platform for showing commitment to responsible practices, providing quality assurance for clients and customers through our Supporter status.
What are your 2026 Plastic Free July goals?
- Our flagship Hailsham site will be celebrating PFJ by running educational sessions for our young participants, highlighting the role plastics play in the environment; offering a higher discount on hot drinks with a reusable cup; completing a community litter pick.
- Our network of Environmental Ambassadors will be performing single-use plastic mapping exercises of our centres, aiming to identify remaining single-use items so that we can source viable alternatives and manage our plastic waste more responsibly.
- All colleagues will be invited to attend a recycling best practice masterclass online with our waste service provider, providing practical knowledge of how to maximise recycling.
- We will also be using our platform of 23 million visits to communicate with customers directly about our approach to plastic management, and encouraging them to engage with PFJ both in and beyond our centres.
- We will be working with our waste service provider on a bespoke long-term strategy to continually improve the way we manage waste, with plastic management to form a key focus.