Article
Jet2 launches initiative with Planet Patrol to tackle litter pollution
Published: Wed 23 Apr 2025 at 15:08
Pictured: Katie Jones, Sustainability Manager Jet2; Amy Cussens, Sustainability Executive Jet2; Ellie Whittingham, Sustainability Apprentice Jet2; Lizzie Carr MBE, Founder Planet Patrol
Jet2.com and Jet2holidays welcomed the founder of their non-profit partner Planet Patrol, to their Leeds offices to launch a brand-new colleague initiative combatting litter pollution called The Big Jet2 Clean Up.
The campaign engages the company’s colleagues, who are based across multiple countries, to pick up items of single-use litter such as plastic, cans and wrappers, and record what they find by type, material and location through Planet Patrol’s free app.
Planet Patrol addresses environmental and human health issues due to pollution, by facilitating and amplifying people-powered data to inform solutions. Through its unique anywhere, anytime, anybody approach to citizen science, it gathers critical evidence of water and litter pollution via its free app to drive solutions. Since 2018 more than 60,000 volunteers have removed over half a million pieces of litter from nature across 97 countries and recorded environmental data on water quality across the UK.
Jet2 colleagues have been challenged to pick up and log more than 5,000 pieces of litter in the first two weeks of the clean-up, with colleagues collecting the most litter winning prizes.
The campaign was launched on Earth Day, a global event which highlights the importance of protecting the environment.
To mark the launch, Lizzie Carr MBE, who founded Planet Patrol, visited Jet2’s commercial office in Leeds to address colleagues and talk to them about why she launched the environmental non-profit.
She said: “I am delighted to help launch the Big Jet2 Clean Up and really look forward to seeing the results. Every item collected will be recorded through the Planet Patrol app, and the data will be analysed to help understand trends and patterns to call for change. This kind of action is essential for driving lasting change, we all have a part to play to help tackle this problem, and we need more organisations like Jet2 to take action and get behind initiatives like this.”
Planet Patrol has been a Jet2 charity partner since 2022 and last year a number of Jet2 colleagues took part in a paddle board clean-up event in Leeds, picking and logging litter found along the River Aire. The Big Jet2 Clean Up marks a significant scale-up, with colleagues in the UK and destinations across Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Canary Islands taking part.
Paul Southall, Head of Sustainability at Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said: “It was genuinely inspiring to hear about the critical work that Planet Patrol is doing to drive lasting change. We have a huge team of colleagues across many countries who are extremely passionate about causes such as this, so we are expecting a fantastic response from them. The Big Jet2 Clean Up gives colleagues a chance to take direct action and we encourage everyone, customers included, to get involved with Planet Patrol by downloading their app and taking part.”
