In a major move towards realising its local and regional sustainability ambitions, Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia has eliminated all single-use plastic from its operations across the Kingdom.
The achievement marks Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia’s local efforts in support of Virgin Group’s wider aspirations to boost its sustainability credentials globally. These group-wide actions ultimately aim to help realise a number of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as the company moves to reinforce its position as a responsible corporate citizen.
Commenting on the achievement, Yaarob Al-Sayegh, Chief Executive Officer at Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia, said: “As a digital trail-blazer, our focus has always been to make mobile better, not just through our services but also by driving positive social and environmental impact through everything we do. As we celebrate Earth Day, we want to highlight our success in completely removing single-use plastic from our operations in Saudi Arabia as a starting point reference for all Saudi companies in telco and beyond. This action not only helps our brand to move closer towards responsible consumption and production, but it also allows us to provide a more environmentally friendly mobile carrier service for every customer in the country.”
Several similar initiatives implemented by Virgin Mobile across the Middle East has led the brand to successfully cut more than 50 tonnes of single-use plastic from across its operations.
Such major regional success in support of the brand’s global commitment led to Virgin Mobile Middle East & Africa being awarded Virgin Group’s global annual Sustainability Award in 2019 on the back of the initial pilot project.
Complementing its success in eradicating single-use plastic in Saudi Arabia, the company has also announced a review of its carbon footprint, and a commitment to work with customers, partners, and sustainability experts to explore how it could significantly reduce and/or offset its carbon emissions.
“Reducing the negative impact of our operations on society and the environment and providing the foundation to embed sustainable habits in everything we do is at the heart of the Virgin brand. We look forward to keeping all of our stakeholders posted on our progress and will be sharing more exciting announcements in this space throughout 2021,” concluded Yaarob Al- Sayegh.
