Oyster’s impact overseas

• We run a carbon offsetting scheme to help mitigate the impact of flights taken by our participants. This enables us to pass substantial funds on to TREE AID. The charity’s mission is to plant trees and tackle poverty through improving the environment in Africa’s dry lands.
• We select projects that use locally sourced foods and materials.
• Many of our projects aim to conserve and restore the natural environment through protecting endangered wildlife and replanting important trees and plants such as mangroves.
• Participants are given strong guidance about steps they should take to conserve scarce resources and minimise their impact on the local environment. For example:
  • Taking care to minimise water use when washing;
  • Using a permanent water bottle rather than buying plastic ones;
  • Correctly disposing of waste and avoiding litter;
  • Keeping to marked paths when trekking, to avoid unnecessary erosion.

Oyster’s UK office

Our policy is to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Where possible, we have switched to electronic, rather than paper files. When we do use paper, we aim to ensure that it is from a recyclable source. Paper that has been wrongly printed is reused and waste paper is sent for recycling. We also recycle other materials, such as plastic and glass.

We offset flights taken by Oyster staff when visiting projects and encourage train travel where possible.

Our office refreshments are Fair Trade.

We avoid excessive plastic bottles by using a dispenser offering locally sourced water.