Sustainability at Pret
'Doing the right thing' is one of Pret's core values, so it's no surprise that we take sustainability very seriously, from our recipes and packaging, to our shops and supply chain. We've come a long way and still have further to go, but rising to the challenge is the right thing to do. We'll continue to share our sustainability journey and, as always, would love to hear your thoughts on how we can do more.
Sourcing Responsibly
Whether you're 100% plant-based, vegan-ish, or meat-free some days, eating less meat is a key way that we can all reduce our carbon footprint. So our Chef's work hard to create lots of delicious recipes that just happen to not contain any meat. While our veggie and vegan range continues to grow, we know that many Pret favourites do contain meat. As we still want to help you make sustainable food choices, we do everything we can to source our ingredients sustainably across our supply chain. We work world-wide with suppliers, farmers, peers and charities to address environmental, social and economic global sourcing issues.
Responsible Shops
A number of our shops in Hong Kong now have filtered water stations for everyone, not just Pret customers. Please don’t hesitate to pop in and top up - it's much better than buying a bottle of water made from single-use plastic!
In 2019, we started trialing sustainable building materials in Devon House, which became the first in the region to implement customer-facing recycling. In partnership with our landlord, we used recycled coffee grounds to grow plants in the building, swapped any vinyl flooring for eco-friendly floor tiles, replaced a large amount of wall cladding with 100% marine waste plastic panelling and installed LED lighting throughout the shop. Please do pop in to take a look and say Hello to the team!
Pret's Plastic Pledge
We have made a global commitment to make the following three changes to our plastic packaging use by 2025:
1. Make it 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable Our long-term ambition is to move to an easily recyclable, plastic-free sandwich pack, made entirely from paper and cardboard. Some plastics, like films, are trickier to recycle but we are working to find innovative solutions.
2. Eliminate all unnecessary single-use plastic We have started removing unnecessary single-use plastic globally. Hot drink stoppers, teaspoons, and plastic straws are no longer welcome in Pret shops and we’re constantly seeking out new solutions for other pesky plastics, like our coffee cup lids.
3. Help customers to recycle effectively in our shops We’re also working with waste management companies, industry partners, NGOs, and government organisations to support improvements to waste collection and recycling. New recycling bins and signage are being trialled in our shops to make recycling easy peasy for our busy customers.
Organic coffee
Pret's coffee is 100% organic, meaning the wildlife and environment where we farm our coffee is protected. Our delicious espresso blend is all thanks to the hardworking families of farmers who look after this land, and in return we set up Pret’s Coffee Fund in 2014 to assure practical support for the next generation of coffee farmers.
We also offer a reusable cup discount of $5 in all of our shops.
The Pret Foundation
We donate our unsold food to charities at the end of the day. Find out more about the work of the Pret Foundation.