Sodexo reveals winners of its Green Spark scheme

To engage employees on environmental issues, Sodexo asked them to submit green ideas that would be simple enough to implement across the company and be cost-effective. Around 50 ideas were received and three took the top spot after being voted for by employees using an online voting system on the company's intranet. The Green Spark initiative supports the company's Better Tomorrow Plan, its worldwide sustainability strategy to 2020, by engaging employees on environmental issues and by helping to protect the environment – two of the plan's key commitments. By engaging with employees, Sodexo is taking its environmental initiatives to the next level. Through communication and consultation, the Green Spark initiative has also created a network of 50 Green Spark champions who will form a consultative group to help design and deploy environmental initiatives. The three winning ideas to be implemented in the business are: Coffee grounds for customers' gardens, Environmental performance reporting templates and Eco suggestion boxes. Mel, Chris and Gary will now work closely with Sodexo's environmental manager, Paul Bracegirdle, and his team, to implement their green ideas across the business. Paul Bracegirdle, Sodexo environmental manager, said: "This is the first time we have run an initiative like this and I have to say I am really impressed at the amount of great ideas we received. "I think employees across the business felt empowered to come up with ideas that could actually make Sodexo a more environmentally-friendly place. I'm looking forward to working with the three winners but coming up with the ideas was just the first step – we all have a lot of work to do."