We are responsible for our impact on the environment. It is not enough for us to comply with legal requirements, we must consider our environmental impact as we grow to avoid embedding ways of doing this that are bad for the environment.
All employees have a responsibility to comply with this policy.
We endeavour to:
- Go beyond all relevant regulatory requirements to minimise our adverse impact on the environment.
- Monitor our environmental performance in a proportionate manner.
- Incorporate environmental factors into business decisions.
- Increase employee awareness and training.
Paper
- We will minimise the use of paper in the office.
- We will reduce packaging as much as possible.
- We will seek to buy recycled and recyclable paper products (where this is compatible with people’s accessibility requirements for eg. coloured paper or paper of a particular weight).
- We will reuse and recycle all paper where possible (paper that contains confidential information about clients, personal information or otherwise sensitive information will still have to be shredded)
Energy and water
- We will seek to minimise the energy we use (whilst maintaining a suitably comfortable working environment)
- Lights and electrical equipment will be switched off when not in use.
- Heating will be set at the minimum level required to keep the office at a sensible temperature for those doing sedentary work.
- The energy consumption and efficiency of new products will be taken into account when purchasing.
Office supplies
- We will evaluate if the need can be met in another way ie. using existing resources.
- We will evaluate if renting/sharing is a viable option before purchasing equipment.
- We will evaluate the environmental impact of any new products we intend to purchase.
- We will favour more environmentally friendly and efficient products wherever possible.
- We will reuse and recycle everything we are able to. Separate bins are provided for this purpose.
- We separately collect items that can be donated to charity as they are or exchanged for money that can be passed on to a charity eg. used postage stamps, ink/toner cartridges, aluminium cans.
- We will compost suitable food waste.
- We will collect cooking oil for recycling (rather than washing it down the drain).
- We will only use disposible products where there are no suitable alternatives (ie. we have no reason to use disposable plastic cups for water – mugs, glasses and water bottles can all be provided. But disposible tissues are necessary, paper towels for hand drying are necessary)
- We collect rain water where possible (for watering plants etc)
Travel
- We will promote the use of travel alternatives such as e-mail or video/phone conferencing where suitable for the task.
- We provide bicycle parking.
- We will operate the Cycle to Work Scheme if/when there is an employee who would find it useful and will consider other ways of providing bikes to employees who wouldn’t be able to use that scheme.
- We encourage anybody who needs to travel to travel by train/bus/coach where this is suitable for them and the journey they are doing.
- As we work in England, it is highly unlikely there will ever be a need to travel by plane. If there is ever an occasion where this is relevant, we will encourage travel by train / boat to Europe.
Maintenance and cleaning
- Cleaning materials used will be as environmentally friendly as possible (bearing in mind that they must perform to a good standard)
- We will only use licensed and appropriate organisations to dispose of waste.
Culture
- We will update this policy at least once annually in consultation with employees and other stakeholders where necessary.
- We will provide staff with relevant environmental training.
- We will work with suppliers, contractors and sub-contractors where relevant to improve their environmental performance.
- We will use local labour, materials and suppliers where available to reduce CO2 and help the community.