HSBC bins HQ wastebaskets and commits to recycling

HSBC will tell staff to recycle more and stop printing out e-mails as part of a £100m investment in green measures over the next five years.

The banking giant said it will spend £35m in the first year on making its buildings more environmentally efficient and encouraging its 280,000 employees to change their behaviour.

Stephen Green, HSBC’s chairman, said that the bank’s corporate responsibility efforts would include a push to cut down on use of paper and boost recycling.

This month, HSBC removed all personal waste bins from its global headquarters at Canary Wharf, London, and the 8,000 staff based there now use communal bins for recyclable dry waste and other bins for wet waste.

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Green said growing momentum from clients and prospective employees was driving environmental issues.

“Our commitment to sustainability is not some philanthropic agent nor incompatible with our strategy of growing profits. On the contrary, it’s intrinsic to it,” he said.