The key aspect for the initiatives to be successful is collaboration. It’s the rare occasion where businesses work together and, in doing so, have a positive effect on the environment.
888poker has partnered with ECOSEC — a company that designs and supplies security tamper evident bags for multiple industries — to help reduce plastic waste at the poker tables.
ECOSEC is offering poker operators the opportunity to replace zip lock poker chip bags with its biodegradable alternative, under its Poker Against Plastic Pollution campaign. The campaign is an idea that was spawned from ECOSEC CEO, Karim Louis noticing that chip bags at live poker stops were too big for their purpose and that there was a huge amount of wastage involved.
“Some poker rooms were using bags provided by banks to transport coins, which is a waste of plastic and, hence, a waste of energy in the manufacturing process,” Louis told pokerfuse. “Some had no recycling information, which means that, in some countries, they cannot be recycled and would be incinerated or end up in landfills. Each time I was handed a bag similar to the one we supply, I couldn’t help but wonder how I could use my organization to reach out globally and supply a biodegradable bag that sent a message across the industry of the importance of environmental awareness.”
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Louis went on to outline the four main principles that underpin the Poker Against Plastic Pollution campaign:
- Reduce plastic pollution
- Reduce energy within manufacturing
- Drive environmental awareness
- Plant trees
888poker is the first operator to partner with the campaign, offering biodegradable poker chip bags from ECOSEC at all 888poker LIVE events from Barcelona in May 2022 and beyond. The introduction of these biodegradable bags will help 888poker achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030 — as outlined in the company’s 2021 Carbon Report.
In the Carbon Report, 888 discloses that, in 2021, 888 was directly responsible for 3,089 tons of greenhouse gas emissions with a larger indirect footprint of around 26,000 tons.
We see innovation partnerships like this as a win-win-win for us, event organizers and environment alike, and crucial in our efforts to positively minimize our impact on the environment.
“We are proud that 888 will be the first major operator to partner with ECOSEC as part of this extremely progressive initiative,” Shai Tabibian, SVP Head of B2C at 888, said via press release. “We see innovation partnerships like this as a win-win-win for us, event organizers and environment alike, and crucial in our efforts to positively minimize our impact on the environment. Plastic chip bags have been used for many years and we hope that this is the beginning of a new, more ecologically-friendly world of poker and gaming as we look into the future.”
The partnership has meant that, for the first time ever, a top-tier online poker operator has introduced a biodegrade poker chip bag option to its players — allowing those that attend 888poker Live events to shun single-use plastics once and for all.
“My search for senior decision makers led me to Doron Ziony who is Head of Live Events and Partners at 888poker,” Louis went on to tell pokerfuse. “Doron’s enthusiasm and willingness to make this work was inspiring. He ordered the minimum of 10,000 bags required to have their logos on the bags. They will be using biodegradable bags at their next 888poker Live event which is in Barcelona from 12th May 2022. It’s been a pleasure to work with someone who has his drive and passion to help champion this initiative.”
Louis also hopes that social media will help play its role in promoting the campaign to a wider audience.
This campaign is an opportunity to reach out to millions of people and trigger environmental awareness.
“Poker players like to let their followers on social media know when they progress in tournaments and regularly post a picture of their bagged chips. Many of us are already conscious when we shop, for example, avoiding buying excessive plastic-wrapped products, using our own shopping bags, and buying glass bottled products instead of plastic. This campaign is an opportunity to reach out to millions of people and trigger environmental awareness,” Louis says.
For every thousand bags that ECOSEC supplies, it will plant one tree through a chosen charity. All of its supporters will receive certificates at the end of each year which will show the number of trees planted through the campaign.
“Our mission is to create campaigns that allow organizations to economically replace plastic bags with biodegradable alternatives. The key aspect for the initiatives to be successful is collaboration. It’s the rare occasion where businesses work together and, in doing so, have a positive effect on the environment,” Louis concluded.
