An award-winning organisation fighting to stop plastic pollution has received fresh funding from sustainable bank Triodos.
City to Sea will use the finance, in collaboration with grant and donation funding, to expand its campaigning and education programme to help turn the tide on the plastics problem.
Established in 2016 as a community interest company, City to Sea works with communities, businesses, and activists to provide practical solutions to the problem of single-use plastic. It has campaigned across areas including water refills and disposable coffee cups, as well as plastic-free periods and brought about significant legislative bans on items such as cotton buds, cutlery and polystyrene.
Triodos Bank UK – a Good With Money ‘Good Egg’ company – has a 25-year history of lending to organisations working for positive social and environmental change and was named Charities’ Bank of the Year at the Charity Times Awards 2023.
City to Sea has recently announced an expansion of Refill Destinations with ten more local authorities across the UK, as well as offering its returnable coffee cup scheme to university campuses in Bath to help cut pollution. It has also recently launched a campaign to ban single-use packaging in restaurants, cafes and bars.
Natalie Fée, founder of City to Sea, said: “City to Sea have banked with Triodos for almost ten years now, so when it came to securing a loan to support our growth, it was incredibly valuable to have a relationship with a local, ethical bank that know us well and could take us through the lending process painlessly! We’re grateful to have Triodos finance backing us so we can keep investing in our much-needed environmental campaigns.”
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Simon Crichton, lending manager for nature, food and resource at Triodos Bank UK, added: “We finance sustainable organisations all across the UK – and Europe – but it’s always particularly exciting when you’re able to work with a likeminded organisation in the city where you’re based.
“City to Sea has had an incredible impact in transforming the public’s awareness and approach to unnecessary, everyday plastic use, so we’re pleased to be able to enable them to continue building on this work.”
