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UPDATE: January 2023

So, in 2018 Pret pledged to eliminate all single use plastic by 2025, although they put a loophole into that pledge by saying “unnecessary” single use plastic 😉

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Link

And then in January 2023 Pret’s “Head of Global Packaging” held a talk at a seminar putting forth “the case for both single use and reusables”.

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Link to Tweet.

The case FOR single use!

And as usual I can’t help thinking that Pret came up with some bogus slogans to BREAK their pledge (as single use packaging is cheaper – katchink!). I’m intrigued with what tricks and slogans he tried to fool the audience. And just like with Pret’s “natural” food claim which they had to stop, teir “ethical” facade, the exploitation and bullying of staff, their foodwaste etc. etc. etc. 9 out of 10 times the slogans on Pret walls, website, marketing is the complete opposite!

When I worked at Pret, even though we had 2 different bins for “recycling”, it all went into the same waste pick-up truck.

Pret must have done a trial for recycling, but it must have not been successful as I’ve never seen this type of bin in any of the 30+ shops I worked at in 10 years.

Tweet from 2013:

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Ignorance is bliss!

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Today’s article in Gloucestershire Live:

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From the article:

»The civic society described the mess that had been left on the street on the last Bank Holiday Monday as a “horrendous example of fly-tipping”.«

Further:

»“We’ve checked the rules and even one such bag of rubbish left on the street counts as fly-tipping, so that puts it into Cheltenham Borough Council’s domain as an enforcement issue.”«

»A Pret a Manger spokesman said: “At Pret, we are proud to be part of the communities where we have shops, and are disappointed to have fallen short of our own standards on this occasion. We are working with our waste management provider and team members to make sure this won’t happen again«

Well, what have we got here … (in chronological order)

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UPDATE July 2022

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And while on the subject of waste, I have written extensively on Pret’s food waste issues. Pret claim to have a “fleet” of cars picking up food each night. Pret do have a car like this or several, but a “fleet” of cars is leaning out the window. I’ve seen a car once on my day off during the day driving by in Trafalgar Square. But in my 10 years in Pret, having worked in over 30+ shops, I’ve never even ONCE seen a car like this pick up food. Not once!

Pret rely on unpaid volunteers to pick up food. If no-one picks it up, it gets wasted in its packaging to landfill. The Pret Foundation car is window dressing more than anything. Of course they drive food to places, but there is no nightly pick-up, and it cannot be coincidence that in 10 years I’ve never seen this car pick up food from any of the 30+ shops I worked in.

Pret also SELL out-of-shelf life cooled down hot food via food app, again, supposedly for the Pret Foundation. Yet, before the pandemic hit Pret’s profits, they were STRICT for us to NOT give out hot food even for free to charity due to safety issues. I got told off by a manager once for handing out hot food when the charity volunteers arrives to pick up food. Now they sell it for cheap under the “charity” umbrella. When it comes to money, health and safety out the window! I write about this extensively in Pret’s Health & Safety Hypocrisy.

Pret always pretends to be so safety concerned, yet, don’t forget they ignored TWO customer deaths and over a dozen further allergen injuries before this became public. I speak about this on my podcast expretcast from the bottom up, Part 01 Ongoing Labelling Issues, Part 02 Ongoing … and Allergy Trial 2021. I draw especially attention to a Barbican seminar which is very important to mention.

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A former staff member also laughs about this:

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Another former staff:

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Another former staff member who got fired for starting a union:

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When customers or members of the public observe food-waste as it happens, and the below screenshots are only a fraction of what I pasted into my other post on food waste in Pret.

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Repeated food waste ignored by Pret:

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Bleach poured over food:

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Paris, France:

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Amy Sharpe from the Mirror went Undercover in Pret after I asked her to see for herself on issues:

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The above are only a few, there’s much, much more on Pret A Manger Food Waste.

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

Please also see the MEDIA page for more.

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org

Interview:

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