Using sustainable materials in our designs 

Responsible travel has always underpinned the mission at Macs Adventure, but now we want to go further to reduce our impact on the environment by reducing single-use plastic pollution, among other initiatives. 

Sourcing Sustainable Materials 

Our end goal is to eliminate paper documentation and the need to send customer info packs altogether by switching to digital documents which our adventurers can access in the Macs Adventure app. This is a huge project that takes time, so in the interim, we’ve sourced sustainable materials for our customer documents, brochures, and branded merch. 

Ciara, one of our UK Adventure Operations Specialists and Emma, our global Graphic Designer got their heads together to source sustainable materials we can use for customer documents, brochures, and branded merch. They tell us about the steps they took to ensure we were choosing the best options for our business and the planet...  

“Our biggest focus was finding options that were fairly priced, made sustainably and from good quality recyclable or reusable materials. Our starting point was researching suppliers. Our aim was to source from companies who aligned with our values. We ordered lots of samples and eliminated options based on delivery times, quality of materials, price and suitability factors. We were able to mostly source good quality, sustainable materials.  As part of our mission to become a more sustainable business, we also looked at how we could improve the materials we were using in our customer info packs. These are booklets that our customers receive once they’ve booked their trip that includes all the need-to-know to know details as well as a Macs Adventure luggage tag.” - Ciara, UK Adventure operations Specialist 

Our mailing bags are now made from corn starch instead of plastic – biodegradable and recyclable. The luggage tags each of our adventurers receive are now mostly made from cork which breaks down completely and can be recycled or repurposed. And in the interim, while we develop our digital documentation, we’ve removed matte laminate coatings from our customer documentation packs. The glue we use no longer prevents the folders from being recyclable. They’re also FSC-approved, which means they’re made with materials that support responsible and sustainable forestry.  

Additionally, our recent brochures and holiday cards are printed on FSC mixed material. 

Reducing single-use plastic with Water to Go  

Our customers and staff can help with our initiative by taking a Water-to-Go filtration bottle with them on their adventures. We‘ve partnered with Water-to-Go, a company that has created a water filter bottle that eliminates up to 99.9999% of all microbiological contaminants including viruses, bacteria, chemicals, and heavy metals from any non-saltwater source in the world, providing safe drinking water anywhere. Not only will this help reduce single-use plastic, but it also means our staff and customers can adventure at ease knowing they don’t have to ration their water!  

Office Recycling 

We’ve improved our office recycling by expanding the recycling bin options we have on the office premises to accommodate a large variety of materials, as well as providing clear labelling to prevent cross-contamination. Our US office in Denver have clearly labeled compost, recycling, and regular waste bins. And every single piece of waste that leaves the Skypark estate – where our Glasgow office is located - is recycled in one way or another.